Catalyst
by sweetpeachytrina
Summary: Dee is learning to accept some things she cant change and in the process finds a friend to lean on. When the lines of friendship began to blur will she be strong enough to resist temptation? Helo and Dee friendship/paring takes place after Woman King
1. Chapter 1

**Catalyst**

Summary: Dee is alone in sick bay and gets a visitor who happens to be her savior in more ways then one...Helo and Dee friendship story... takes place after Woman King

maybe a one shot not sure yet

Dee coughed harshly feeling her throat ache as she slumped down in her cot trying to get comfortable. The dreary gray wool covers Coddle had draped over her was itchy hot and irritating, causing her skin to feel slick with sweat. Growling she kicked it off the her and let it drop to the floor where it could cause her no further vexation. She could practically feel the disapproval look her father would have given her if he was here to witness her childish display of her notorious short fused temper. He always said she was an hard headed fussy brat whenever she got sick and she was inclined to agree with him. She hated being stuck on any kind of bed rest and she absolutely loathed feeling like an invalid. Anastasia Dualla always prided herself on being independent and the fact that she felt too weak to even stand on her own made her mood darken even more. A sharp pain tore through her side and she groaned softly trying to block out the pain. Her body ached terribly from the illness she was recovering from and the sedative she had been administered hours earlier was starting to wear off and slowly misery began to settle in. Somewhere in the distance she could hear several of the crew members laughing heartily as they were most likely heading over to Joe's for some drinks. Minutes later their cheerful voices faded and she was alone with her thoughts once more. She sighed wistfully silently wishing she could be out there with them. She rather be anywhere then stuck behind the dreary green curtains on a cot as hard as nails in the dark alone.

The room hummed with the monitors and engines vibrating underneath the ship and it bought a small smile of comfort to her lips. The eerie sounds of the ships always had a strange soothing affect on her. It was like a sweet lullaby that she would never get tired of hearing. Sometimes when Lee was fast asleep she would sneak out of their sleeping quarters and sit out on box of metal crates in the most quiet corners of the ship and just listen to the sounds of the ship.

After the whole revelation of the doctor on board being a racist murder Dr.Coddle had insisted she stay over night in sick bay so that he could monitor her for any signs of her symptoms getting worse. She smirked as she realized he had a strange way of "monitoring." He had stepped out for a break and that had been an hour and he had yet to return. She licked her parched lips desperately desiring a drink of water. Moving slowly, she sat up and painfully walked towards the doctor's desk where he kept a pitcher of water and a glass on a silver tray. Every few seconds she had to stop walking feeling a wave of nausea and exhaustion wash hit her relentlessly. A film of sweat gathered on her forehead and the room began to spin very slightly causing her to stumble back.

"Oh my gods," she whispered light headed as she began to bump into things causing several items to go crashing to the floor. Gripping the edge of the desk her eyes rolled in the back of her head as she felt the last ounce of control t hat she had over her body slip away.

Suddenly she was starting to think getting out of bed wasn't such a good idea. She thought she heard her name being called from a distance but before she could register anything more, she felt a shortness of breath and weakness in her legs causing them to shake slightly.

Feeling faint she felt her legs give out from beneath her and she went crashing towards the ground. Suddenly she felt a strong pair of arms wrap around her catching her nano seconds before she hit the floor. She gazed up at the face towering over hers struggling to recognized it, but her vision was blurred and the room was too dark and was spinning out of control.

"I got you, Dee. I got you." The voice was masculine and comforting to her ears.

"Lee?" his name barely made it off her lips before everything went dark.

Helo sighed frustrated as he laid in his bed unable to sleep. Beside him Sharon snored softly obviously oblivious to his restlessness. The alarm clock next to his head on the night stand warned him that he only had a couple of hours left before his morning shift in the CIC was to start. Closing his eyes he tried to find rest but his mind was still filled with unease about the events that had taken place earlier that night. His suspicions that doctor Roberts had been killing his patients had been correct and even the admiral had apologized in doubting his judgement. However Helo felt a deep sense of loss. If he hadn't been so doubtful and afraid of angering those in command over him then he could have probably saved a lot more people then he had. He had confided in Sharon on how he felt but he wasn't surprise that the discussion had led to a full scale heated argument. As usual Sharon didn't understand where he was coming from and it frustrated him. She felt that he should do his job and not get so attached. He thought that to be cold and impossible. He had to watch people die and those deaths, especially the ones he felt he could have prevented, stuck with him long after the duty day was over. Moving carefully he climbed out of bed and quietly slid on his sweats and a t shirt and shoes before walking across the room over to the crib where their baby girl was slumbering peacefully. Watching her always managed to soothe whatever dark mood he would find himself in and he found her watching more and more lately. Gently he leaned down and pressed his lips softly against the soft dark curly crown of the Hera's head. She cooed softly still deep in sleep with her small thumb caught between her lips. Starring down at her he was in awe of how tiny and beautiful she was. Quietly he opened the hatch and silently made his way out of his sleeping quarters into the near silent halls of the ship.

Walking around the corner he past several of the mechanic guys stumbling towards their bunks laughing obnoxiously loud. He shook his head amused as the mumbled a noisy respectful greeting in reference to his rank over them. Once they had disappeared down the hall he was left in the silence once more. His thoughts drifted to the events that had took place hours earlier. The woman who had lost her son had somehow managed to find his sleeping quarters and had frantically warned him that Dualla had fallen ill and that she was clearly convinced that she would Dee in the doctor's care. That was when he knew he could no longer afford to extinguish his mounting doubts about the doctor's treatment of the Sagittaron refugees. Dee was a Sagittaron and he couldn't risk her dying under Roberts care. Sharon had demanded that he not get involved which had led to an explosive fight...

_"Don't. Don't even think it," she had warned glaring at him._

It had been apparent that she did not approve of his getting involved in the matter in which he was told by the admiral to drop, but he couldn't help himself. Sharon firmly believed in discipline and disobeying a direct order from his superiors did not sit well with her just like obeying it had not sat well with him for the past few days. His gut had been right about a lot of things and with a friend's life hanging in the balance he was not about to

_Sharon, it's Dualla. Dualla went down there," he said focusing on getting dressed trying to block out his wife's pleas._

_"She has a husband," she protested exasperated._

They both knew Lee was on duty and that he wouldn't be back for some time. Dee had no one to look out for her, and it was no big secret that Dee wasn't exactly the center of Lee Adama's attention these days. The latter was a part of the reason why Helo had been determined to go to her aid aside from his genuine mounting concern for her. She needed someone to watch over her and for many reasons he couldn't express he felt that duty was his to bare. In his experience he realized everyone needed someone.

They had argued before he made it clear to her that he wasn't willing to sit back this time and let another person die when he could prevent it. He had stormed down into the refugee holding area searching frantically searching for Dee. He remembered the chilling moment he had found her and thought she was dead. Her dark face had been ashen and when he had touched her skin searching for a pulse he had found it cold and clammy. So much emotions had surged through him. Some he wasn't ready to acknowledge just yet. Dee was a good friend of his, almost like a younger kid sister he had never had and he had known her ever since she had first started working on the ship. Losing her would have been devastating and he had nearly cried with joy when she had move slightly showing that she was very much still alive.

To Helo Dee was unlike most of the women on the crew. Kara and Sharon both made it clearly they were outspoken strong women, driven by the rush of flying Raptors across the open galaxy. They were adventure seekers. Dee strength was silent and it spoke volumes. She carried her self with grace and dignity and proven her asset as a communications officer was just as demanding as being a Viper pilot. There was a side of Anastasia Dualla that a lot of people never got to see. She was a private person and the very people who confided in her found that she was an excellent listener, and she knew discretion very well. Even the admiral sought her counsel.

He found himself standing outside of the medical clinic and deciding to check up on Dee he gently opened the door and walked in. Maneuvering carefully in the dark room around the dividers protecting other patients privacy he walked over to the area where Dee had been processed and frowned when he found her cot empty and a blanket draped on the floor. He had been there when Dr. Coddle made it mandatory for the lieutenant to stay in sick bay over night, and she had been pretty out of it when he had last seen her so he knew she couldn't have gone too far. A loud crash caused him to race to the other end of the room where Cottle's office was. He rushed into the opening to see Dee swaying dangerously a few feet from Cottle's desk.

"Dee!" he called out concerned.

As he saw her falling he quickly dashed forward doing a improvised baseball slide and catching her in her arms before she could hit the floor. A guard who had been posted outside of the room had heard Helo yell and rushed into the room.

"Is everything alright, captain?" the Sgt asked worried.

Helo glanced at him briefly.

"Go find Dr. Cottle and tell him to get down here NOW!" he ordered firmly. The Sgt. quickly scrambled to carry out the officer's order. Helo turned his attention back to Dee who was whimpering disoriented.

"I got you, Dee. I got you," he murmured, rocking her in his arms.

"Lee?" she barely whispered before passing out.

"Dee! Dee, honey it's Helo C'mon sweetheart. Open your eyes." he coaxed shaking her gingerly,

Her eyes opened slowly to see Helo's concerned face swimming in her vision.

"Helo?" she whispered weakly clinging to him in a state of confusion.

"I'm here Dee. Let's get you off this floor," he coaxed sliding one arm beneath her legs and using the other to support her back before lifting her carefully and effortlessly. She was as light as a feather. He carried her back to the cot where he placed her down gently arranging the pillows beneath her head so that she was comfortable. He was reaching down to pick up the blanket to cover her when she protested.

"No blanket." Her plea was frail and desperate.

Helo nodded and grabbed the steel chair in the corner placing it by her bed before lowering himself down into it watching over intently.

Minutes later Dr Coddle rushed into the room with a half burned out cigarette hanging out of the corner of his lips and his brow furrow with distress at seeing the condition of his patient.

"What the frak happened?" he asked gruffly.

By this time Dee was more oriented and was looking guilty.

"I was trying to get some water," she confessed sheepishly.

Dr. Cottle's face reddened with anger.

"Damn it, Dualla. I told you to stay in bed." His sharp reprimand was cut off by a scathing glare from Helo.

"What the hell were you thinking leaving her down here alone like this? Anything could have happened. She is obviously dehydrated, she could have seriously hurt herself when she fell. If anything would have happened it would have been your fault," he growled angrily.

"I stepped out to get the admiral to sign some papers. I didn't think she would be crazy enough to go wandering all over the place while I was gone," he said defensively.

Dee looked back and forth between the two men and sensing the tension she decided to intervene.

"I'm fine, Helo. Really. I'm just a little thirsty," she coughed lightly.

Cottled snorted.

"I can hook another IV in your arm if that's going to prevent you from moving," he offered half joking.

Dee eyes widened and Helo gave the man another dirty look.

"I really don't think that's going to be necessary, doctor. A glass would be suffice," he said evenly.

The doctor walked away mumbling under his breath what Helo was pretty sure was obscenities towards him, but he decided to let it slide. Moments later Coddle returned with the pitcher and a glass and two pills.

"Take these for the pain. They will also make you drowsy so you can sleep comfortably. Don't drink too fast or you'll get sick," he warned handing her the cup filled with water.

Dee nodded and placed the two small pills on the edge of her tongue swallowing before taking slow sips of the water moaning as the cool liquid danced down her throat giving her immediate relief from her thirst. She returned the cup back to the elderly man and smiled gratefully.

"Thank you."

"Yeah. I gotta get back to the admiral to finish the paper work. Are you going to be fine here alone until I get back or do I have to strap you down?" he asked sternly.

Dee blushed feeling like a little girl being scolded by her father.

"Don't worry, doc. I'll stay here and keep an eye on her," Helo assured.

Cottle 'humphed' before walking away. Dee sighed and shifted uncomfortably on the cot.

"You aren't having the best day are you?" Helo smiled sympathetically smoothing back her hair affectionately.

She laughed softly.

"I would say that is a huge understatement captain."

They sat in a comfortable silence before she spoke again.

"I never got to thank you for coming to my aid. I don't remember much of what happened but Dr Cottle told me that you protected me against Roberts," she smiled.

"He never intended to hurt you," he said modestly.

"It's nice to see that I do have really good friends on this ship that cares about my well being, and what you did for me was very noble. Thank you," she murmured cupping his face in her hands pulling it down on hers and placing a kiss on his cheek.

He smiled ardently down at her feeling his cheeks tint with a warm blush at being so close to her. She smelled so good, like fresh rain and a floral scent. Dee smiled shyly and dropped her hands back in her lap.

"Hey, what can I say? Your indispensable to me and a lot of other people on this ship. Particularly a certain officer of the watch," he said huskily reaching down and lightly brushing an eyelash of her cheek.

"Gaydea?" she giggled softly.

It was a running joke among the crew that Felix Gaydea had a 'thing' for her and she was flattered but she only thought of him as a dear friend.

"C'mon Dee. I see how he watches you in the CIC when he thinks no one is paying attention. He has always had a thing for you," he teased causing her to blush deeply.

"It's a harmless crush. Felix is a great guy, but scuttle butt says he is getting pretty chummy with Lieutenant Seelix," she said amused.

Helo roared with laughter.

"You are kidding me? Seriously, Feelix and Seelix?" he exclaimed between gasps.

Dee laughed as well and soon they both were in tears holding their sides.

"Ow," she giggled feeling a sharp pain in her chest from laughing too hard.

"So what bring's you here? It's late. Don't you have watch in the morning?" she asked when their laughter had died down.

The smile he had been wearing slowly faded and was replaced by sadness.

"I couldn't sleep. I had a lot on my mind. Sharon and I aren't exactly getting along and then there's the guilt," he admitted quietly.

"Guilt?" she asked quizzically.

He sighed heavily raking his fingers through his short dirty blonde hair. He suddenly felt bad for spilling his guts to Dee when she was obviously in really bad shape and needed her rest.

"You know what? Forget I said anything. You need your rest," he said gently.

Dee pierced him with her menacing gaze that made him slightly nervous. It wasn't a look Helo was use to seeing but when she used it he knew she meant business. It was the look that clearly stated she was not going to settle for being patronized and that she meant business and wasn't going to back down. However she softened and gave him as supportive smile.

"Helo," she started, her voice very soft from the lack of energy,"what happened to those refugees was not your fault. You tried to warn the admiral and Coddle about Roberts and they refused to listen. They are going to have to deal with their conscience. You have nothing to feel guilty about."

Her words were soothing and made him feel slightly better but a part of him seem stubbornly determined to wallow in self condemnation.

"If I would have used my judgement and followed my gut instinct I could have saved those people. I sat back and allowed myself to believe everything was okay when I _knew _it wasn't. If it hadn't been for that woman who son's died warning me, more people could have died. You could have died," he said contritely.

"Karl listen to me," she started gently taking his hand in hers, "what matters is that you tried. I know some racist frakks aboard this ship who would have looked the other way if they found about Robert's killing his patients strictly because they hate my race of people. You didn't turn away. You had the courage to right a wrong and there is a lot of people who owes you their lives."

Helo smiled at her feeling a weight lift from her words. Talking to Dee always seem to manage to make him feel less burdened. Somehow she understood him and that was the strength of their bond and friendship. She understood him.

"So where is Lee? It's pretty late. Shouldn't he back from flying CAP?" she asked worried.

Helo blanched. He had been in the hanger with Lee Adama had arrived from flight practice and that had been an hour ago.

"You mean he hasn't come to see you? He's been back on the ship for two hours now," he said startled.

He didn't miss the flash of pain across her lovely face nor the tears that welled up in her hazel green eyes. The emotions were fleeting as he saw her sat her jaw squarely and fight back the tears reclaiming control over her emotions.

"No. He hasn't come to see me. Maybe he doesn't know what happen which is fine. I don't want to cause him any unnecessary worry," she said derisively.

They both knew that was a lie. The news about the murderous doctor had spread through the fleet like a wild flower and he had been in the CIC when Admiral Adama had given Felix the order to pass the news about Dee's health along on a scrambled line. Helo wasn't clueless. He heard scuttlebutt concerning Lee's and Dee decomposing marriage and while he knew Lee to be cold and indifferent at times he refused to believe the commander could be heartless to knowingly abandon his wife in sick bay.

"Maybe he got held up in the hanger. I'll go get him" He rose to leave, but stopped when Dee grabbed his hand gently.

"No, that's okay. I really can't face him right now. Not like this. The last thing I need is for Major Adama to feel sorry for me," she said bitterly stifling a yawn.

"I know it's really none of my business but are things really that bad?" he asked delicately.

"It's no big secret that my husband is in love with the legendary Starbucks. Apparently she doesn't want to anger the gods by divorcing Anders which pretty much fraks everyone involved. Anders is stuck believing that Kara's heart is truly his and Lee is stuck settling for me. I'm really not surprise he didn't come to see me. He asked me to sacrifice my life to save the one of his lover so nothing inconsiderate that he does surprise me," she said groggily as the pain medicine began to kick in..

Helo swallowed deeply. He truly felt terrible for his friend. She didn't deserve the way Lee treated her. She deserved so much better and the fact that she was in pain because of that husband of hers angered him.

"I'm sorry, Dee," he said quietly trying to hide his disdain in his voice.

She smiled sleepily.

"Well I always have my friends. That is better then having nothing," she said her voice fading.

Get some rest, Dualla. I'll be right here," he murmured holding her small delicate hand in his.

"Helo, you don't have too..." she said inaudibly before drifting off to sleep.

Her eyes fluttered closed as she relaxed beneath his comforting soft touch.

"Yes. Yes I do." His whisper was tender as he gazed down at her beautiful face filled with peace and ease. He remembered the days when she wore that expression in her every day activities. The days before frakkin Lee Adama. She was so much happier...

"Dee..."

His eyes snapped open at the sound of Lee's voice. Helo quickly backed a few feet away from the cot putting distance between him and Dee. The last thing he needed was for her husband and his boss getting the wrong idea. Seconds later Lee came around the divider looking frantic. He rushed to her bedside oblivious of Helo's presence and showered her face with kisses.

"I got the message, and I am so sorry I'm late. One of the engine's in the Viper's blew in the hanger and I was stuck...how are you? Are you okay?" he rambled checking her over carefully as if she was fragile porcelain.

When she didn't respond he shook her gently.

"Dee!" his voice was filled with apprehension and fear as he pressed his ear against her chest listening for a heartbeat.

Helo cleared his throat softly catching the major's attention.

"She's fine sir. Coddle sedated her so she is going to be out for a couple of hours," he said trying to keep his voice neutral. His annoyance with Lee had escalated when he caught the whiskey reeking off of him.

So much for the Viper having a blown engine. Helo swallowed trying to hide the disgust that was evident in his blue eyes hard as stones as he glowered at the major.

If Lee sensed Helo's brooding hostility he either didn't care or was too wasted to acknowledge it.

Lee smiled relieved.

"Tyrol filled me on what happened. He said that the doctor went off the deep end and was murdering his patients. I don't know what I would have done if he..," he trailed off.

The naked fear he heard in Lee's voice caused his hardened expression to soften somewhat. Lee may be guilty of being preoccupied with Kara, and having his priorities frakked up but the man truly seemed to care about his wife to an extent and that in Helo's book counted for something.

"Thank you for what you did for her. I owe you one," Lee said gratefully extending his hand.

Helo forced a smile and shook the major's hand.

"I was doing my job," he said humbly nodding at the other man before turning to leave the clinic.

Helo took one glance back at the couple. Lee was standing over his wife stroking her hair affectionately talking softly to her while she slumbered. Dee was okay, for now anyways. Tomorrow would be a whole different story. Smiling sadly he turned and walked out of sick bay.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: I appreciate the reviews. I kinda figured this paring wouldn't be well received with all the Kara/Lee shippers on the site but imagine my pleasant surprise when I got three reviews . so I thank you and I shall solider on for you.**

One week later...

"All the discrepancies of this shift are logged and sign for in the log and Apollo, Starbucks and Athena are out with their trainee's performing routine training exercises. All the call signs are the same and Admiral Adama is going to want to brief you sometime during the evening about the communication traffic to and from the ship so keep a sharp eye on the transmissions," Dee instructed to her the lt who was relieving her of her post.

As she rambled on the items off the check sheet she was unaware that across the CIC someone was watching her discreetly. Helo had just finished briefing his replacement for his shift when his eyes, for the hundredth time that day, had been diverted to the petite communications officer. She was bent over the controls at the communications desk explaining something to the lieutenant relieving her. Several dark strands had escaped the tight bun she had pulled at the nape of her neck falling like a curtain in her eyes. She had recovered quickly from her bout with the sickness that had killed off several of the refugees and returned back to work that day almost like she had never missed a beat. He had visited her several times after the first night she had been admitted. They had laughed together and confided in each other like they had always done over the years, yet something had slightly changed between them in the past few days and he couldn't quite put his finger on it. It was like as if they had developed a more closer and intimate friendship. Almost as if she could hear his thoughts she lifted her head and her eyes met his. There was no awkwardness in their exchange. She smiled shyly before looking away after a few seconds past. He felt a warm blush creep up the back of his neck as he bit back a smile as she headed towards him.

"I was just heading to the chow hall to grab a meal. Care to join me?" she asked warmly.

Her offer came as a surprise. Usually when Dualla would leave a shift of work she would head to the gym, work out of awhile, grab something to go from the chow hall land disappear to her quarters where she would stay until she had to work again. He knew it would be wise to not look to much into her invitation. Lee was never around much and Dee probably was lonely and was needing some company. He was opening his mouth to say yes when the colonel came over abruptly interrupting the conversation.

"Hope you two don't have any special plans made for the next few days that you are off. I just got off the horn with the Admiral and he wants you two to report directly to his office. He said something about an special assignment," he muttered wearing his usual scowl.

Dee's eyes widened curiously.

"Assignment? Wha-" she was cut off with a dark glare by her superior.

"How about you save your questions for the old man? I'm just the frakkin messenger," he growled before stalking off to complete his hourly rounds inside the CIC.

Helo and Dee exchanged an amused look behind the cornel's back. The man always seemed to be stuck in a permanent bad mood and when he didn't have his daily dose of alcohol he could be particularly sour.

"Looks like dinner is going to wait. What do you think the old man wants?" she asked as they walked out of the CIC and made their way to the Admiral's quarters.

Helo smirked.

"Maybe he wants to make sure that his favorite communications officer is really as healthy as she claims she is. After all, you did come back to work two days earlier then expected," he teased.

Dee rolled her eyes good naturally.

"I'm fine. I wish everyone would stop worrying about me. I got a little sick and I'm all better now," she assured.

While she truly wanted everyone to stop making a huge fuss over her, secretly she enjoyed the attention she was getting. She was use to being a wall flower always stuck in the background. After she had recovered, everyone had went out of their way to make sure she was okay. Especially Helo. The past few days he had been doing small task for her that he thought she didn't notice when she really did and it bought an appreciative smile to her face. They made small talk all the way up until they got to their destination.

Helo lifted his fist and knock firmly on the door to the commander's office.

"Enter."

Walking in, Helo and Dee were surprise to find Sam Anders sitting in one of the three chairs placed in front of the Admiral's desk. Sam looked over his shoulder and gave the faintest sign of a shrug. It was obvious from his confused expression that he had no clue as to what any of them were doing there.

"Dee, Karl, please have a seat," Admiral Adama requested.

The two young officers and civilian obediently lowered themselves into the chairs.

"President Roslin has been meaning to send Lee to do an inspection on the black market trade being ran out on cloud nine, but the Major is off overseeing mandatory training exercises for the next forty eight hours and won't have the time to accept the assignment. So she asked me to select two of my most trusted officers to go in his place and so I am giving the two of you the assignment. Im also requesting that Anders accompany you. Is there any problems with that?" he asked.

Dee and Helo exchanged a surprise glance. It had been awhile since either of them had been given a special assignment.

"No sir," they said in unison.

The Admiral started to speak again when Sam interrupted.

"I have a question. Why exactly am I needed on this assignment? I am not trained for this sort of thing," he said confused.

Adema took of his glasses and sighed softly.

"To be frank, I need someone to watch my people's back in case things get out of hand. You have experience with firearms and I was told out of all the civilians aboard you are the best when it comes to providing protection. I have thirty of your men and women who's lives you saved on Caprica during your time of evading the Cylons," he informed.

Sam blushed lightly under the old man's subtle praise.

"I appreciate the vote of confidence, sir," he murmured.

"Good. You leave on a raptor at 1730 three hours from now. Here is your orders and I have informed the Chief of the armory that the three of you will be coming down there to pick up an firearm. There was a run in with trouble the last time we confronted these people and I would be remiss if I sent you in blindly with no way to defend yourself. Helo, you are trained for hostile situations, more so then Dualla, so I want you to really look after her. This could be dangerous and I want you three coming back to this ship in one piece. Is that understood?" he asked sternly.

Underneath the sternness in his voice they could hear his concern. It was a known fact around the ship that Admiral Adema cared about his subordinates as more then as solders. He cared about the crew as if they were all his children and despite regulations of favoritism it was obvious he cared more for some then others. Dee was his son's wife so there was more apprehension on his part of sending her out.

"Yes sir." Helo's crisp response only caused the scowl on Dualla's face to deepen. The Admiral's lips twitched in amusement but he knew better to smile openly when he knew how much Dee hated to be over protected.

"Dismissed."

The two officers snapped two attention and executed a sharp salute before exiting the office with Sam Anders not too far behind them.

Once they were outside the office, Helo was startled when Dee let out a quiet squeal of delight.

"So I take it you are excited about this spontaneous mission?" he asked amused.

The scowl that had been on her face minutes ago had completely vanished. She looked up at him grinning.

"Helo, do you know how big this is?! It's been forever since I've been off this frakkin ship and I finally get a chance to do something more then sit behind a communications desk and transmit and receive calls," she gushed.

He laughed lightly.

"Easy, tiger. This mission might be dangerous," he warned.

As quickly as the annoyance had vanished it resurfaced once more as she narrow her beautiful eyes at him indignantly with her arms folded across her chest almost defensively.

"What? You think sweet little Dualla can't handle a good dose of danger? May I remind you that I hold the lives of Viper pilots in my hands every day. If there was no communications officer to guide them back to the ship they would be lost out their in space. Besides it wasn't that long ago that I rescued Kara Thrace from being obliterated by the cylons _and _flew us both back to the Battlestar, I can handle myself. I do not need to be babied and protected," she said pointedly.

Helo sighed amused.

"Okay, I will give you credit for your heroic save of Thrace, but you could have gotten killed, captured or worse. To be honest Lee should have never asked you to endanger your life that way," he pointed out.

Sam frowned.

"If Dee didn't do what she did my wife would have died," he protested.

Dee shrugged.

"You know how it is, Helo. We are soldiers first. Everything else takes a backseat," she murmured clearing her weapon.

"I'm just saying I wouldn't have sent you out after her. If Lee Adema cared that much for Kara Thrace he would have went and saved her himself. He wouldn't have gotten his wife to risk her life for her," he grumbled.

Dee looked at him surprised by the annoyance she heard in her friend's voice.

Helo flushed as he realized that he probably said more then he should have on the subject. Fortunately they arrived at the armory halting all conversation as they signed for their weapons.

An half an hour later they walked up to the hanger and spotted a bunch of the crew in their regulation bright orange jump suits scurrying around to get the Viper's that had just landed processed and secured. Lee, and Kara climbed out of their respective cock pits and walked in their direction.

"Hey, Dee. What are you doing up here?" Lee asked curiously noticing her travel bag perched over her shoulder. He had talked with her the previous night and she hadn't mention taking a trip of the ship.

She smiled.

"Your father gave me, Anders and Helo an special assignment on cloud nine," she said eagerly.

Kara smiled amused.

"What's wrong, Dee? Hibernating in the CIC wasn't adventurous enough for you?" she joked.

Dee smiled ignoring the blonde as she faced her husband.

"I should be back tomorrow evening. If I get a chance, I'll try to call," she said exhilarated giving him a chaste kiss on the cheek before following Helo and Sam to their assigned Raptor.

Lee watched as his wife chatted away excitedly with Helo as they made thier way over to the Raptor that was waiting to take them to Cloud Nine. He wasn't sure why he was bothered by what he was seeing but he was. Dee never talked or laughed like that when she was with him. Whenever he would walk into the same room with her mood would darken automatically and she would give him the cold shoulder. Lately he had begun to notice all the time she spent with Helo. He began to notice how they both went out of the way to seek each other out. While it didn't bother him in the past it was beginning to bother him now. He hadn't been a good husband to her lately and a part of him thought that she would wait for him to change, but now he wasn't so sure. A part of him knew he was being paranoid but the thought of possibly losing Dee was beginning to gnaw at him and he had to do something before it was too late.

"Hey, Kara wait up," Lee called running after the short haired blonde.

She looked at him with a smirk. She knew he was up to something. She could always tell from the way he smiled a little too brightly, which was what he was doing at the moment.

"Yes, Lee?" she asked patiently.

"How do you feel like getting off this ship and grabbing a few drinks?" he suggested.

She frowned. She had expected him to ask her to stay behind and over see repairs on her Viper or cover his shift coming up in eight hours.

"There are drinks at Joe's," she protested, startled why he would want to go through all the hassle of having the Admiral authorize two passes to fly off the ship just to get alcohol.

"Yeah, but Joe's is on this frakkin ship," he pointed out.

Kara sighed relenting. It was obvious that whatever he was up to that he wasn't planning on letting her in on so she decided to go along. She knew he wasn't trying to get her off the ship to seduce her. He wasn't that bold and she wasn't that stupid. She was in love with Lee but she would not cross the line by sleeping with him while she was still marry to another man.

"Is there any place that you had in mind?" she asked curiously heading towards the latrine to wash up.

Lee looked over his shoulder and saw Dee and Helo boarding a raptor. Helo and Sam had climbed aboard first and offered their hands down to Dee to help her in. He could hear their laughter echo in his mind long after the doors of the ship had closed and the engines had fired up.

"Lee?" Kara called impatiently looking at him strangely.

He snapped his attention back to her and smiled.

"Yeah. Cloud Nine."


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: I apologize for the long delay, but I just finally realized the direction I wanted to go with this story, so for all those still reading and reviewing, thanks for the patience and the feedback. Oh and I stopped reading everyone's story because it made me realize that I pale as a writer in comparison to most of you lol**

**Hours Later...**

"What a day," Helo sighed as the trio made their way to lodging worn out from the inspection. The trio had just spent the last twelve hours doing a tedious inspection of the Black Market and everything seemed to be in order. They had faced some hostility from the chain of command over the operation, but Helo and Sam had quickly gained control over the situation. What made things difficult had been the fact that the area the Black Market had been ran out of had no central air and they had been forced to work in the hot smoldering atmosphere with no relief.

Dee wiped a film of sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand and exhaled deeply.

"I don't know about you guys, but I could really go for a cold shower right now. I feel so disgusting," she griped as slid her card key into the metallic slot, gaining access to her room.

She flung her work bag on the floor as Helo walked in behind her. Walking over to the sink, she turned on the water faucet and splashed cold water on her face. The sensation of the cool water against her flushed skin caused a shiver to go down her spine and she let out a soft moan as she repeated the action several times. Turning off the faucet she grabbed a towel and patted her face dry feeling a whole lot more better then she had five minutes ago. Her relief was short lived as she noticed Helo sitting on the edge of hr bed observing her with a grin.

"What?" she asked self consciously.

He shook his head and laughed.

"Nothing. I guess I'm still surprised how easy this mission end up being. I thought for sure that we would have gotten a lot more resistance from the civilians running the operation considering what happened last time military members were aboard this ship," he mused aloud.

Dee sighed and flopped down next to him.

"Want to know something frakked up?" she asked quietly with a smile.

"What's that?" he asked curiously.

She looked up at him sheepishly.

"I was hoping something major happened. I was actually hoping for a little danger so that I could see how it feels to do what Kara and Lee do on a daily basis," she admitted.

Helo stared at her wide eyed.

"I know it's stupid, but I wanted to be in the heat of an intense situation. I wanted the adrenaline rush that everybody seems to experience with the exception of me and Feelix because we are too busy being stuck behind a communications desk," she pouted.

"Dee," Helo started amused," You must remember that we all have our place in the fleet. No job is more or less important then another-"

Dee grinned and shoved him playfully.

"Don't give me that generic speech, Helo. I have heard it from Lee a million of times and each time its sound more patronizing then the last," she scowled.

Helo laughed.

"Let me ask you something, Dualla. Why is it so important to you that you see action?" he asked curiously.

"It's silly. I keep thinking that what attracts Lee to Kara is the fact that she is a risk taker and a rebel. A part of me thinks that if he sees me in that light," she trailed off ruefully.

She was surprised when Helo reached over and took her hand in his and squeezed it comfortly.

"Dee...look at me," he murmured.

She obeyed heavy hearted.

"Dee, you were amazing today. I doubt we would have had as much cooperation as we did if you weren't here. It's a rule of thumb that men respond better when there is a beautiful woman interrogating them," he smiled causing her to blush.

"Listen, you don't have to prove that you are as good as Lee or even Kara. I already know that you are. You have proven yourself to everyone more times then I can count," he said gently.

Dee smiled feeling comforted.

"Sometimes I wish Lee see's me the way that you do," she said wistfully. Only when the words had escaped her lips did she realize that her statement had sounded more pathetic out loud then it did in her head.

She closed her eyes wishing that she would disappear.

"What I meant to say," she tried.

"I wish he saw you the way I do too. Then maybe he would realize just how lucky he is," he said huskily.

Dee felt her heart skip a beat and she tried to focus on anything but his face. She knew if she looked into his eyes, she would start having those feelings she had been fighting desperately for the past few weeks. She was confused. One moment she was looking at Karl Agathon as nothing more then a good friend, and the next she saw him as a companion with faint hopes of romance. Her eyes fluttered shut when he reached up to tuck a lose strand of her hair behind her ear. Just his touch caused a reaction inside of her that both terrified and excited her. Her breathing grew shallow as she forced herself to open her eyes.

She could see it. The same apprehension that she was feeling mirrored in his eyes. She could sense he was conflicted as well which made her even more apprehensive.

Helo was starting to say something when a knock on the door cut him off. Taking advantage of the distraction, Dee quickly scampered off the bed and opened the door coming face to face with Sam. Never had she been so relieved to see anyone in her life.

"Hey guys. I got a message from the front desk. The Admiral called and he wants to speak with you. The front desk has him on line for you," he informed.

Dee grew nervous as she noticed a look of confusion surface to Sam's face. It was obvious that he sensed the tension in the room. For a long moment there was an awkward silence. Fortunately Helo decided to speak before the silence became unbearable.

"I, um, I should go get on that phone call. I guess I'll meet up with you guys for dinner?" he mumbled as he made his way towards the door.

Sam nodded.

"Should we go with you?" he inquired.

"That's not necessary. He probably just want a briefing on our findings so he can brief the president. It should probably take me an hour," he stated.

"I guess I'll see you two later then," he smiled turning to walk out the room.

Suddenly he stopped and faced her again.

"Dee?"

She looked up from digging through her overnight to find Helo looking at her almost shyly.

"Yes?"

"Good work today," he said sincerely before exiting the room.

Dee felt touched by his genuine praise.

Smiling satisfied, she pulled her sweat soaked tank top over her head, wearing only a sports bra, and tossed it into her bag, before fishing around for something fresh to wear. She paused as her hand came to a rest over a soft silky black fabric. Capturing the material between her fingers she gingerly lifted it out of the bag. It was a black mini dress that she had bought earlier from a woman merchant in the Black Market. The woman had talked her into buying it along with a pair of heels, and second hand jewelry. At the time it had seemed like a great idea and a wonderful bargain, but in retrospect she realized her purchase had been frivolous. Lee never took her out anywhere special anymore, so she really had no reason to wear it. Even if she did wear it to surprise him when she got back to Galactica she knew he would be too distracted to notice anyways.

"I'm guessing that the dress attire for dinner is formal?"

Dee jumped startled at the sudden masculine voice and whirled around to find Anders leaning in the threshold of the room, grinning at her amused. She laughed sheepishly before dropping the dress back into the bag.

"Sam... you scared me! I thought you had left," she chided lightly.

He chucked amused.

"I'm sorry. That wasn't my intention. Honest," he said with a smile.

Dee gave him a dirty look before zipping her bag shut.

"If you weren't here to give me a frakkin heart attack, why are you here?" she asked curiously.

The smile immediately disappeared from his face.

"Dee, can we talk?" he asked abruptly.

She looked up from her bag, startled by his changed demeanor.

"Sure," she said.

"It's kinda personal. I know that this is strange timing, but this is the first time we ever had any time alone and I want to talk to you about Lee and Kara," he said gently.

Dee tensed involuntarily. She knew the day would come where she would have to have a heart to heart with Sam seeing how he was one part of the never ending love rectangle between herself, Lee, and Kara. However she really didn't feel like having that heart to heart at that particular moment.

"What's there to talk about. If it's obvious around Battlestar that there is something going on between the two, it must be obvious to you as well," she said curtly.

Sam nodded.

"I know, but I have a feeling that you know exactly what that something is. Do you think that what's going on between them is a phase, or do you think...that...," he trailed off softly.

Dee inhaled sharply feeling uncomfortable. She knew the answer from the moment Lee had asked her to marry him. She knew that her husband's feelings ran deep for Kara and judging from the anxious look reflecting Sam's pale green eyes, she knew she would have to break his heart by telling him the truth.

"You know, this conversation would go much easier over a very strong drink," she joked lamely.

He smiled patiently.

I know that this is an uncomfortable subject and if it was any normal circumstances I wouldn't ask but...but I really need to know. I need to know if there is any hope for my marriage," he whispered.

Dee hung her head in defeat. Anger and hurt surge through her like a raging fire, but her hostile emotions wasn't directed at Sam. They were directed at Lee and Kara. Damn them for putting her in this position! _They _were the ones who at fault so by all logic and reason it should have been the two of them standing where she was starring Sam in the eye explaining to him why his marriage was broken beyond repair. It wasn't fair.

"Listen, I'm sorry. It was so frakked up of me to ask. I didn't mean to upset you," he apologized.

"I think that they love each other. I also think that is something that won't ever change no matter how devoted and patient we try to be," she blurted honestly.

No need to drag out the truth. The pain would be the same in the end. It was better that he heard it straight forward with no bullshit. She almost regretted being as brutal when she saw the devastated look on his face.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly, "The worst thing is loving someone from a distance and not being able to have them. Maybe we got off easy."

Sam looked at her in doubt.

"I love Kara. I don't see how her being in love with someone is me getting off easy," he said in anguished.

Dee looked at him sympathetically.

"Kara and Lee have to be around each other every day knowing that while they may love each other they will never be together," she said dully.

Sam eye's flashed in confusion.

"Why can't they? She can divorce me and Lee can divorce you if they really wanted to be together," he argued.

"It's not because of us. Ironically, Kara and Lee will never be able to be together because Kara has her demons that prevents her from letting Lee love her completely and vice versa. Why do you think she married you, and why do you think that he married me?" she said hoarsely.

Sam stared at her bleakly and the intensity of the pain that she saw in his eyes made her heart break for him.

"I love her, Dee. I have never love someone as much as I love her," he said rawly.

"Sam, sometimes loving someone is not enough. The only man who has ever loved me is dead and I won't get a second chance," she said barely above a whisper.

A long grief filled silence fell between them.

"You are talking about Billy, aren't you? Kara told me about that. I'm sorry," he said stricken.

Dee smiled at the memory of her former lover. Thinking about him bought back painful memories and intense guilt.

"Billy was kind, wonderful and passionate. He showed passion for being the president's aide, he showed passion for his job in the fleet, and he showed passion...in me," she trailed off quietly with sadness in her eyes.

He smiled at her sympathetically.

"I can't imagine how it had to destroy you when he was killed," he said gently.

She forced a smile and blinked back tears. Whirling around she began to fumble through her overnight to distract herself from breaking down in tears.

"There are times where I miss him so badly that it hurts. If I hadn't been so foolish," she started brokenly.

Sam hugged her comfortly.

"Sometimes we make decisions because the heart wants what the hearts want," he said huskily.

"I really don't believe that you don't think that you won't get a second chance at love. Besides, the last I heard you strike out at three, not two," he said softly.

Dee stopped fluttering around in her bag and inhaled deeply before turning her full attention towards Sam. He had such a serious expression on his face, and it made her anxious. Judging from the way his eyes were locked onto hers, she knew he was about to make an observation that she was not t ready to hear.

"It's obvious, to me at least, that you are struggling with something internally and I am not going to be bold to assume that I know what it is, but I can tell you this. You have another chance. There is someone who wants to step in and be what you need. I know this for a fact, so don't lose hope," he said

"You can go ahead and go get washed up. I'll see you at dinner. I'm sorry if anything I said offended you. I just wanted to offer a little insight seeing how we both are kinda stuck in a similar situation," he said quietly.

"Similar? I think we both are in the exact same situation," she scoffed.

He smiled sadly and shook his head.

"No, we aren't. One of us is in love and the other has fallen out of love. I don't think I have to tell you which one you are," he murmured, before walking out of the room closing the door behind him.

Dee stared after him feeling her chest tighten and tears well in her eyes. A part of her was angry that Sam had been so intrusive into her personal feelings, but another part was relieved that he had forced her to really evaluate her conflicting emotions. Emotionally and physically drained, she stripped out of her clothes and headed into the bathroom where she ran the shower. She padded barefooted across the cool tile floor and stopped in front of the mirror where she observed herself quietly. Her hair hung wet and limp around her chocolate brown shoulders, and her hazel green eyes stared back at her filled with confusion. How was it possible that Sam had been able to see something she hadn't yet figured out herself? Was it possible t hat he was right? Was it possible that she feeling something more then friendship between her and Helo? The thought made her feel an immense amount of guilt. She knew it was wrong to think of Agathon as anything other then her friend. He was married and had a family.

Dee walked into the shower with her mouth open slightly letting the water run over her in a soothing manner. Closing her eyes she just took a moment to stand there and let the soft wet drops trickle down her body.

_"The worst thing is loving someone from a distance and not being able to have them."_

Her own words echoed through her ears softly. Biting her bottom lip gently she tried desperately to block them out, but her efforts were in vain. She let out a low growl as she began to lather her body with soap. Images of Helo began to flash in her head. She remembered earlier that day when he had pulled off his shirt when the heat had became intolerable. He had revealed a sweat drenched gray wife beater beneath the shirt he had discarded, and the tight tank top had clung to his body like a second skin. For the first time she had found herself admiring his physical physique and it wasn't out of appreciation of the human anatomy. She had admired him out of womanly lust. She clenched her teeth tightly as she allowed herself to remember how taunt and strong his arms looked with sweat gleaming off his shoulders running slowly down to his elbow. His dark brown hair had been drenched and several disobedient strands clung to his forehead nearly hiding his beautiful eyes. She had remembered Sam removing his shirt as well and while his body was just as appeasing to look at, she had been drawn to Helo almost like a moth to a flame, as cliche as that was. In her mind she had seem herself doing things to him that caused a warm flush to flood through her body. Not particularly wanting to face the consequences of her fantasizing, she rinsed all the suds of soap clinging to her body off before turning the faucet off curtly stopping the downpour of the lukewarm water.

Walking back into her sleeping quarters, Dee's eyes drifted to the black dress on her bed. It was time that she got some answers to the questions she had been avoiding, and she was determined to get her answers that night. There was no turning back now. It was either all or nothing, and from where she was standing she was set to lose nothing and gain everything.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: Thanks for all the reviews and the support of my story! This chapter hints at some characters based on the episode "Black Market" and I couldn't remember the entire episode so some things may be incorrect. Feel free to make note of whatever I had gotten wrong so I can fix it and know for future references :) thanks ya'll...**

**Meanwhile across the ship...**

An Half An Hour Later...

"Welcome aboard cloud nine, Major. How long will you be staying with us?" a brunette at the front desk of lodging greeted Lee Adema with a bright smile.

He returned her smile.

"This visit won't run overnight. I just need you to tell me the room Lieutenant Adema is residing in," he requested.

Kara looked at him suspiciously.

"I thought you said that we came here for drinks," she said staring at him closely.

Lee and Kara had just arrived aboard Cloud Nine and while Kara was interested in finding the nearest bar, Lee had his mind focused on one thing. Finding his wife and seeing what she was up to. He felt kinda guilty about following her on a mission, but in all honesty it wasn't really her he was concerned with. He didn't trust Helo. His problem with Karl Agathon had really started when the Captain had shocked him by marrying the very cylon that had tried to murder his father. Ever since his dislike of Agathon had grown.

"We are. I just want to see how the mission went for Dee. It's not often that she's out in the field and I just want to check up on her and she how things are going," he said casually.

Kara wasn't dumb. She had been noticing how Lee had been acting strangely lately. Scuttlebutt on Galactica was that Helo and Dee had been seen keeping each others company after hours and while Kara saw no harm in the two friends spending more time together, Lee had taken exception to it.

"Oh cmon, Lee. I'm not stupid. I know the only reason why you wanted to come aboard this ship was to scope out her and Agathon," Kara said frankly as she followed Lee down the hall towards the location of his wife's room, after the clerk had given Lee the number to Dee's room.

Lee bristled.

"Spying implies that I don't trust her, Kara, which is absurd. I know that Dee would never be unfaithful. It goes against her character," he said stiffly.

"So what are we doing here, then?" she asked bluntly.

He sighed heavily.

"I told you...," he started.

She cut him off abruptly.

"I know what you told me, Lee. Now I want the truth," she said evenly.

He glowered at her.

"I'm not lying, Thrace," he said coolly.

"Lee, I know that it's totally none of my business," she started.

He stared at her pointedly.

"You're right. It isn't any of your business," he said curtly.

"Listen, Kara. It's not her that I'm worried about. It's Agathon. I'm not the only one who has been noticing how much time he's been spending with Dee. I just don't want him trying to take advantage of my wife," he admitted finally.

Kara was about to answer but stopped short when Dee's room door opened and a blonde walked out looking as if she had just been caught doing something wrong.

"Who the hell are you?" Kara demanded.

She was startled when the woman smiled at Lee surprised.

"Lee," she exclaimed.

"Shevon! What are you doing here?" Lee asked startled at seeing the tall blonde exiting his wife's hotel room.

Shevon had been the woman, prostitute, that he had a brief fling with while being haunted by the memory of a former love from his past. She had been someone he had found temporary escape in while investigating the murder of Pegasas officer, Jack. They had a brief physical relationship before he had ended things with her and found himself attracted to another woman who had been Dualla.

The blonde looked at him surprised.

"Lee...I had no idea you were here," she gushed.

They embraced and Kara frowned. She could sense that their was an unspoken history between the two. She could just tell by the way the woman was looking at him with fondness, and the way Lee was smiling down at her. Annoyed, she cleared her throat loudly interrupting their silent exchange.

"Shevon, this is Kara Thrace. Kara, this is Shevon," Lee introduced quickly.

"You actually never answered Lee's question. What were you doing in Dee's room. From the looks of it you weren't invited seeing how she isn't inside," Kara asked evenly with her arms folded across her chest.

"I came to give your wife a warning. She is not safe on this ship and she should leave immediately. Some dangerous people are targeting her," she said somberly.

"What are you talking about? Who could want to hurt Dee?" Lee demanded as fear washed over him.

"How do we know that we can even trust you? Especially since we just caught you sneaking out of Dee's room obviously uninvited?" Kara asked suspiciously.

Shevon smiled tightly.

"Lee knows he can trust me. He has saved me and my daughter's life more times then I can count by getting her medicine off the Black Market when I couldn't get access. When I saw the chance to repay the favor, I took it .The market has been appointed a new kingpin. Phelan's brother, the man Lee shot who use to run the Black Market, Sylan now oversees all the new regulations the President had implemented," she started softly.

"When he heard that the wife of his brother's killer was onboard he wasn't exactly subtle about getting pay back. I over heard him talking to Coron, his appointed right hand man, and he made it clear that she was to be bought to him alive. I know that he will kill her given the chance which is why I came to her warn her," she said honestly.

Lee clenched his fist in fury.

"Take me to him. If he wants to settle the score, he'll settle it with me. I want my wife left out of this," he said angrily.

Shevon shook her head.

"If I take you to him, it will only enrage him further and it'll make his pursuit of your wife more relentless. The best way to handle this is to find your wife and convince her to get off this ship so that way Sylan will not be able to harm her," she said seriously.

Kara opened her mouth to protest, but Shevon cut her off abruptly.

"There's no time to waste. Come, I'll help you find her," She offered before leading the way down the hall.

**Meanwhile...**

Helo sat at the bar waiting patiently for his two dinner companions Dee and Anders to arrive. He had just finished briefing the Admiral on the inspection and the Admiral had cleared them to come back to Galactica the following duty day. He was grateful for the down time away from the ship. It was nice to be in a different atmosphere where he saw a change of faces for once.

"Hope we didn't keep you waiting to long," Dee's soft voice teased behind him.

He turned his head to reply when the words died on his lips. She was wearing a dress that practically made his jaw hit the floor. Sam Anders was standing beside her, but Helo barely noticed the other man. He had felt as if time had completely stopped and that everyone in the room had disappeared except for Dee. Her long thick black hair fell around her shoulders softly, she was wearing a strapless black dress that clung tightly to her petite frame. Her legs looked long and lithe in a pair of open toe black stilettoes, and beautiful crystal earrings hung from her ears. He had never seen her, or anyone for that matter, look so beautiful. He quickly rose from his chair, to pull her chair from the table so she could sit down.

"You look great," he said with a grin.

"Thank you," she murmured lowering herself down into the seat.

As they ate dinner, the conversation flowed smoothly, but there was a few awkward pauses and noticeable tension. Helo also noticed Dee was giving off strange vibes. She was drinking a little more then she usually did and the atmosphere between her and Anders seemed a bit strained. Little did he know that things were about to take a turn from strained, to uncomfortable.

Anders drained his glass of his fourth alcoholic drink and looked towards the middle of the room where several couples were dancing. The melody was upbeat yet Anders continued to scowl.

Apparently Sam's sour mood went ignored by Dee as she grinned and hummed along softly to the song. Noticing Helo's questioning yet amused expression she blushed lightly.

"It's been awhile since I heard this record. Lenka use to be one of my favorite artist," she informed before playfully singing the chorus with a nostalgic expression on her face.

"Look at them. They look so happy and so in love. They have no idea that any moment their happy world could come crashing down around them," Anders muttered.

Dee shook her head.

"Not all people are destined for doomed love, Anders. Don't be cynical," she chided.

"Not everyone is lucky to find their destined Starbuck or Lee Adema. Some of us, Dee, are actually meant to be alone," he sighed finishing his drink in one gulp.

Helo watched Dee visibly flinch. She pushed away from the table and looked over at him.

"Captain Agathon, would you care to dance?" she asked with a forced smile.

It was obvious that she was becoming fed up with Anders negative attitude.

"Sure," he said returning her smile as he rose from his chair to follow her to the dance floor.

"You two have fun. I think I am just going to hang out at the bar," Sam mumbled before rising from his chair and walking, half stumbling across the room.

The upbeat song faded into a slow jazzy song. Dee smiled nervously and he felt her subconsciously move a little closer to him. Looking into her eyes he could see their was apprehension and sadness lurking on the surface.

"What's up with Anders? He's acting a little unusual," Helo asked confused as they danced together.

"Anders came to talk to me about Kara and Lee when you left to take th Admiral's phone call," she started quietly.

Helo swallowed with great difficulty. It all suddenly made sense. Anders less then sober presence at dinner, and Dee's morose attitude. Something had happened between them.

"Are you ok? Did you two have some kind of fight?" he asked concerned.

She shook her head sadly.

"No. We just simply had a conversation that was long over due," she sighed filling him on what had been said between her and Sam.

"A part of me feels so guilty that I had to tell him the truth because now he is in more pain then he had been before I opened my mouth. I don't want to end up like that, Helo. I don't want to be bittered and scorned. I don't want to become a cynic who thinks love is a sham," she whispered emotionally.

As Helo listened he couldn't help but feel angry. He could hear the pain in her voice as she spoke. He stopped dancing and cupped her face in the palm of his hands gently forcing her to look him in the eye.

"Lee's not the only man who is capable of caring about you, Dualla. Trust me. If most of the men in the fleet were in his spot, they would treat you like you were the only person in this universe that existed. They would be there for you and never frakkin take you for granted," he said huskily.

She flushed deeply.

"Sometimes I think that I was destined to be alone," she said softly.

He reached down and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear.

He knew that he should stop and walk away from her before the temptation to cross the line between them became to strong of an urge to resist. However he knew a line had already been crossed between them a long time ago. A past filled with mild flirtation, intimate conversations and a close friendship had led them to the point were they were at now. The moment they had shared in the room earlier reappeared and this time their was no running from it. In her eyes was the silent question that had been in his head for the past few days. They both were undeniably attracted to each other, and if it had just been a physical attraction, it would be much easier to deal with. However this was much more then just physical. He connected with her emotionally, mentally and on a deep intimate level. The question was rather or not they could resist the urge to explore this budding attraction.

He looked into her eyes and felt his face grow warm, and she looked away blushing as well. Biting his bottom lip softly, he held her petite body closer to him, and she rested her head on his chest closing her eyes as their bodies swayed together. It had been a long time since he had been held someone this way and even though he knew on some level that it was wrong, it felt so right. For several songs, they danced across the floor oblivious to any and everything around them. He felt her hands slowly travel up his chest as let his hands rest on her hips starring down at her with desire. He was so caught in her mesmerizing gaze that he didn't notice someone looming behind him, until he heard Dee gasp.

"Mind if I cut in, Captain?"

Helo looked over his shoulder and found himself face to face with Lee Anders.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: I know it's been awhile. Forgive me, por favor!**

"Lee, what are you doing here?" Dee asked flustered as she quickly pulled away from Helo, putting distance between her and the Captain.

The petite communications officer tried her best to look natural, but her flustered appearance quickly gave her away and deepened Lee's suspicions. However her apprehension turned into anger when she spotted Kara Thrace standing with an unfamiliar woman a few feet behind her husband. It irked her that she could never seem to catch a time whenever her husband and the blonde were apart.

"Starbuck and I came to get a drink and I decided since we were in the neighborhood, that I would find you and see how the mission went," he said forcing a smile.

"Everything went great," she said a little too enthusiastically.

Helo grinned in agreement.

"You should have seen her, Major. She was amazing," Helo murmured smiling at her causing her to smile bashfully.

Lee stared down at Dee not knowing what to say. It was painfully clear from the expression on her face that he had stumbled on to something between her and Helo and while he wasn't exactly sure what it was, he knew it was something inappropriate. Before he had interrupted their dance, he had stood watching them across the room for five minutes and it was apparent there was a subtle attraction between them. The fact that Dee was wearing a very provocative dress didn't help matters much. He hadn't seen her where something so seductive in months and the fact that she was here wearing it in front of Helo made him grind his teeth in displeasure. Lee could feel his anger rise as he stared at his wife and Helo feeling something he hadn't felt in a long time.

Jealousy.

Never before had he had to worry about his wife being tempted by another man, but he was worried now. There was something between Helo and Dee. He was certain of it. He was convinced Helo had been looking at his wife in a way that was all too familiar to Lee. Lust. He wanted nothing more then to confront Helo right then and there, but he wisely decided to bite his tongue for the moment.

Sensing the tension in the atmosphere, Karl cleared his throat.

"I think I am going to go check up on Anders," he said quickly, before walking away giving the husband and wife their privacy.

Kara smiled tightly.

"I think I'm going to go with Agathon," she mumbled scurrying off with Shevon hot on her trail.

Dee flashed her husband a smile that was a little too bright for Lee's taste.

"If we would have known you were coming aboard we would have waited before eating dinner," she said casually with her arms folded loosely across her chest, "I am sure that a dinner with you and Kara would have been....pleasant."

Lee could practically hear the sarcasm dripping off her voice at the end of the statement.

"If you knew I was coming aboard would you have still wore that dress?" he retorted defensively.

Dee's smile quickly disappeared and her face became pinched with tension, and Lee exhaled frustrated running his fingers through his hair at a loss of what to say. It seemed that whenever they would speak to each other, an argument would break out. He missed the beginning of their marriage when they had, for a brief time, been genuinely happy with each other. Now he could only watch helplessly as his wife pulled further and further away and he didn't know what to do to rectify the situation.

"Listen, I'm sorry. That was uncalled for. You look...beautiful. I wasn't aware that you had that dress in your closet and I'm surprise to find you wearing it. On a mission nonetheless," he said quietly.

"Thanks. I found it on the Black Market and decided to buy it. It's been awhile since I dressed up and when Karl suggested that the three us of go to dinner..." she was cut off by a snort of disbelief from her husband.

The mention of Agathon made all traces of civility disappear from Lee's mind.

"So you and Agathon are close enough where you feel you have to look sexy for him?" he asked unable to hide his anger any longer.

"Lee, just because a woman wants to look nice doesn't mean she has an ulterior motive. I bought the dress because I liked it," she said patiently.

"Are you sure it isn't something more?" he asked evenly.

She looked up at him, her eyes dark with anger.

"Excuse me?"

"Dee, you don't think I have noticed what's been going on? Agathon has been stepping out of his place with you," he started.

"Stepping out of his place?! Karl Agathon is my friend, Lee," she said coldly.

"How can you be sure that he isn't using his friendship to get closer to you on a romantic level?" he blurted.

Dee looked at him in disbelief.

"Have you lost your frakkin mind? I can't believe you!" she hissed outraged.

While it was true that she was having conflicting feelings about the true nature of her friendship with the Captain, she was offended that Lee had the nerve to confront her about it despite his misgivings with Kara.

Lee quickly realized what he had said came out wrong and accusing, and he could tell from the outraged expression on her face that it was far too late to try to take it back. He had started something that he had a feeling that was going to end badly. Really badly.

"Dee," he tried.

"You have some nerve, Lee. After everything I have put up with these past months with you and Kara you have the _nerve _ to confront _me _ about another man?" she snapped furious inadvertently drawing several curious stares in her direction.

Lee glared at her.

"Do you mind keeping your voice down?" he said haughtily.

She laughed harshly.

"Why? So the great Lee Adema can keep up the front that his marriage is just as perfect as he pretends to be?" she asked spitefully.

Lee blanched.

"This is not about me. This about you and Agathon," he began.

Dee cut him off with a piercing glare.

"What do you think you saw, Lee? Karl and I were dancing, not frakking. You have no right to accuse of inappropriate behavior. Especially when you aren't the poster boy for fidelity," she said indignantly, "Do me a favor and just go spend time with your precious Starbucks and leave me the frak alone," she hissed whirling on her heels preparing to walk away from him.

Lee grabbed her forearm gently, stopping her in her tracks. He narrowed his eyes at her annoyed.

"How many times do I have to tell you that I don't want Kara?" he demanded.

She looked at him coldly.

"However many times it takes until you realize that you are not only lying to me, you're lying to yourself," she said with venom dripping from her voice.

Lee's face darkened.

"Is this what you want, Dee? Do you like me acting like a jealous asshole just to prove that I love you?" he asked evenly.

"The thing is that you shouldn't have to act any kind of way for me to be assured that you love me. If you have to act then it really isn't really love, now is it?" she asked stiffly.

"Despite what you may think, I really do love you," he growled, his blue eyes flashing angrily.

She blinked back tears of rage.

"I don't doubt that you love me. I just know that you are in love with someone else," she hissed.

He opened his mouth to protest but she cut him off abruptly.

"What did you expect Lee? That I would sit back and let you make a fool of me forever? Now let go of me. You are causing a scene," she snapped narrowing her eyes at him in contempt.

"Frack, Dee. I don't want to lose you," he growled desperately

There was raw emotion in his voice that made Dee's expression soften slightly, but it disappeared quickly and was replaced by a look of anguish.

"It may just be too late," she whispered angrily before wrenching her arm from his grip and stomping away towards the ladies room.

He went to go after her when Kara stopped him.

"Give her time to cool off. If she's not out in five minutes, I'll personally go check in on her," she reassured.

Frustrated, Lee clenched his fist in anger and was looking for something in the room to take his mind off his current fragile situation with his wife when his eyes locked with a short black man with an eye patch sitting at the bar. The man quickly looked away and Lee frowned suspiciously. Before he could ponder on the guy any further, Sam walked over to him. The man's face was flushed red with anger and he could tell by the way Anders eyes glazed over that the man was drunk.

"What's the matter, Adema? Dee finally is seeing through your bullshit?" he sneered.

"Go to hell," Lee growled.

After his heated argument with his wife, Lee was definitely not in the mood to have a confrontation with Anders.

"Yeah, I'm thinking we'll all end up there first before you or you frakkin father find Earth," he slurred, laughing obnoxiously.

Kara stared at her husband stunned wondering what, beside liquor, had gotten into him.

"Shut the frak up, Sam! What the hell do you think you are doing?" Kara demanded.

Anders looked at his wife balefully.

"You must think I'm pretty stupid. Like I don't know what's going on with you and Adema. All this time I was thinking that maybe it was something that I did, or maybe that I was somehow not giving you what you needed. Dee was right. It was never about the two of us. It was about the two of you and your angst filled love connection," he snarled, growing angrier with each word.

Karl quickly intervene. He knew that if things didn't calm down soon, ugly things were going to be said and he wanted to avoid having the major and Anders come to blows at all cost.

"Sam, this isn't the time nor the place. Let me walk you back to your room where you can sleep it off," Agatnon coaxed gently.

Sam waved him off drunkenly and continued to glare daggers into Lee. His face was red with anger and his fist were clenched tightly at his side. There was no mistaken that Sam Anders was highly pissed off, and he was determined to get his feelings that had been threatening to crush him all night off his chest.

"His problem isn't with you Sam," Kara interjected trying to defuse some of the tension between the men.

Sam briefly turned his gaze towards his wife and the look in his hazel eyes was borderline unkind.

"As true as they may be Kara, my problem is with him. I have a problem with any man who openly loves my wife with no regards to the commitment and vows she made to me," he said scathingly.

Lee tensed.

"What's wrong, Major? After you frakked my wife on New Caprica, Dee couldn't compare? What, Dualla didn't do it for you?" he asked harshly.

Helo closed the distance between him and Sam with a dangerous look in his eyes.

"You watch your frakkin mouth and leave Dualla out of this, Anders," Helo growled.

"With all due respect, Captain, I can defend Dee. It appears that you had forgotten that she is MY wife," Lee said hotly.

Karl looked up unfazed.

"Excuse me? What exactly is that suppose to mean? " he demanded.

Kara decided she had all of the drama that she could take.

"Enough! Everyone just shut the frak up and let this shit go," she exploded.

The three men continued as if they haven't heard her. Annoyed she stormed off in the direction Dee had went.

"You know what I mean, Helo. Why are you asking married women to dinner?" Lee asked suspiciously.

Helo tensed and drained the alcohol in his glass.

"We were just taking advantage of a little down time, and if you didn't notice it wasn't just the two of us. Sam was with us" he said curtly.

"You seem like you were taking a little advantage of something more then just down town, Captain," Lee said with an hard edge in his voice.

Helo bristled.

"Do you really believe that?! Look...Dualla and I were just having a good time. We had dinned and shared a couple of dances. It was perfectly innocent," he said frankly.

Lee scoffed.

"How frakkin stupid do you think I am? I saw the way you were looking at her," he said

"Major, with all due respect you are out of line," Helo said stiffly.

"Am I?" Lee asked coldly, "It is inappropriate for you to be that personal with another man's wife. You are an officer and if you can't act like one then maybe you need to rethink your place in the military," he said coolly.

"Does the hypocrisy ever get to you, Lee?" Sam asked interrupted abruptly.

"Excuse me?" Lee asked indignantly.

Kara quickly interfered.

"Sam, don't you think you already done enough damage? Why don't you stay out of this?" she snapped annoyed.

Sam ignored her pointedly and continued to glare a whole through the major.

"You are an officer. The son of the almighty admiral. You preach about integrity when you lack all sense of the word! You married a woman you don't even love because you couldn't have the one you really wanted. You dishonor your vows to the gods by lusting after my wife and neglecting your own. If that is what your definition of integrity I am frakkin proud that I lack it," he snarled before storming off.

Lee stared after the retreating Anders before turning his steely gaze onto Helo who was starring at him with disdain. It was no apparent that things were going to be hostile between them for now on. Once they had been civil co workers, and now things between them were heated and it was now a civil war. Lee was determined to make sure Helo stayed away from his wife at all cost, and Helo was determined to see that Dee was no longer hurt by the uncaring and selfish actions of her husband.

"Stay away from my wife. This is a warning, Agathon. Next time...I wont ask so nicely," Lee said coldly.

Helo smirked.

"I think it should be left up to Dualla whether or not she wants to associate with me and I seriously doubt that she is going to distance herself from me because her husband who is distracted by another woman asks her too," he said bluntly,

Lee's blue eyes hardened like stones.

"Yeah, but she is my wife. It's not your job for you to sit by her beside nursing her back to health, or covering her shifts, and she definitely doesn't need you taking her to dinner. That's my job," he said stiffly.

_"A job you never frakkin do!"_ Helo seethed inwardly as he felt anger creep up his neck but he bit his tongue trying to keep his temper in check.

A stony silence filled the atmosphere between them. Judging from the expression on both men's face, neither was going to back down, nor give in. Lee decided that arguing was futile so he issued one last warning to the other man.

"Listen, what I saw was two officers acting highly inappropriate with one another. If I see it happen again, I'll have you investigated and if there is evidence of any wrong doing, I will have you stripped of your rank and court martial. Are we clear?" he asked in a dangerously low voice.

Helo barely flinched at his threat.

"I'm not going to stop protecting Dee from being hurt by you and if that is a court martial offense, then by all means. Go for it," Helo challenged.

They glared at each other unwaveringly.

_Protecting Dee...._

All of a sudden Lee got a sinking feeling in his gut. The whole time he had been arguing with Anders and Agathon he had completely forgotten the reason why he had come to find his wife in the first place. Shevon'd warning's began to echo in his head and he began to feel panic rise within him. He looked around frantically and saw no sign of his wife. For some reason his eyes raked across the bar area and he realized the man he had locked eyes with earlier, was no where to be found. Dread gripped his heart with it's icy cold fingers making each heartbeat echo loudly in his ears.

Helo frowned at the erratic change in the Major's demeanor. His face was pale and there was a look of terror in his eyes. Before he could ask the sound of a gun going off echoed through the air. For a moment no one moved. The music stopped, people froze in the spots they were standing in and no one dared to move nor breathe. Seconds later...all hell broke loose.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter**

_***Snap***_

The sound of something breaking beneath Dualla's feet was soon followed by the sound of her swearing loudly and unhappily.

"Frakkin unbelievable! As if my night wasn't bad enough already," Dee grumbled as she stared down at one of her shoes that the heel had just broken off of bitterly.

She had been so angry after her huge explosion with her husband that she had marched off and somewhere between storming out of the restaurant and entering the bathroom, her shoe hadn't been able to handle the harsh treatment and had broken off completely. Exhaling annoyed, she kicked off both pair of shoes slamming them down into the nearest trash container before glancing at her reflection in the mirror. Her hand flew to her darkened cheeks as she realized she was still flustered from the confrontation that had taken place moments earlier. Dee couldn't believe that Lee had the nerve and the audacity to not only confront her in the manner that he did, but she also couldn't believe how badly he had manage to humiliate her in front of Agathon.

While she was seething with anger, a small part of her was genuinely worried. What if Lee had saw more then he was letting on? What if he had already connected the dots and realized that she and Agathon were attracted to each other? It would further complicate her marriage and that was the last thing she needed. Starring at her reflection she could see the tension in her face and she exhaled deeply. Something had to give. If things continued the way they were going she was sure that things would spiral out of control.

As a tear slid down her cheek, she quickly brushed it away stubbornly. She couldn't do this anymore. It wasn't working and it hadn't been for sometime. If it had, then Lee wouldn't still be so connected to Kara and she wouldn't be slowly falling for Karl. She laughed bitterly as she realized the ugly irony of her situation. She had resented Kara for showing absolute no regard for her marriage, yet here she was not bothering trying to halt her mounting her attraction for Helo Agathon who was a married man.

"Trouble in paradise?"

Dee looked up sharply to see a skinny black man wearing an eye patch starring at her with an unreadable expression on his scarred face.

"Forgive me if you find this rude, but I don't know you and you are probably the last person in the frakkin universe that I want to discuss my marriage with," she said coolly.

The moment after she had snapped, Dee was immediately remorseful. She knew her comment was cold and rude, and completely unlike her. Forcing a half hearted smile she shook her head wearily.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you. I'm just not in the best of moods," she apologized quietly.

Almost as if he hadn't heard her, the man continue to pursue a conversation with her.

"Much like you I have seen my share of worries. Not many with women, but I have to say I have had my share of personal demons that torment me in my every day life. Especially after my brother died," he said casually.

The sudden admittance of something so tragic and personal startled Dee, but she brushed it off. The man seemed as if he was lonely and he was probably talking to her because she was a stranger who seemed compassionate enough to listen. As he continued to ramble on Dee was too busy trying to refresh her tear stained face that she didn't noticed he had closed the distance between them until he was practically standing inches behind her. Feeling his hot breath on the back of her neck, she whirled around taking a couple of steps away from him warily. There was something off about him and suddenly she was getting a creepy feeling about the stranger. Dee shuddered as she noticed the crazed look the man had in his one good eye. He seemed pretty harmless, but she didn't feel comfortable staying in the empty latrine any longer.

"I'm sorry for your loss. I think I'm going to head back out to the dining room. My husband is waiting for me," she mumbled making a move towards the entrance of the bathroom that also served as an exit.

Suddenly the man seemed to become agitated and he blocked her path towering over her menacingly.

"I'm not really convinced that you are sorry," he said curtly.

Getting a bad vibe in the pit of her stomach she tried to brush past him, but he continued to stand in her way. Gone was the show of friendless he had wore earlier, and it's place was a look of rage and hostility.

"Please, move," she said evenly, trying not to let her fear show.

The strange man didn't answer. Instead he pulled out a gun from the front of his pants pointed the his weapon towards her head, narrowing his dark eyes at her coldly.

Her heart was pounding loudly inside her chest as she realized that she was in serious danger. She could tell from the dark way that he was glaring at her, that he wasn't going to let her walk out of the bathroom unharmed. Dee frantically racked her mind for how she was going to get a handle on things when the sound of the gun firing made her scream out in fear as an bulled bounced off the teal green tile wall several feet from her head. Dualla released another blood curling scream as she scrambled to get away from the crazy eyed gun man who was grinning madly.

"That was just a preview of what would happen if you tried anything foolish, except the next time, the bullet will be in your head. Allow me to introduce myself. My m name is Raul. I am not a man who is ever accussed of being rude so may I ask by what name you prefer to be called? Anastasia Dualla or do you perfer tro be called Lt. Adema, wife of the infamous Lee Adema," he sneered as he closed the distance between them.

Dee's fear rose greatly when he addressed her by her name, and a million questions began to flood through her mind. Why was this happening to her? Who was this crazy man holding a gun towards her head and how did he know her her? Suddenly a unnerving thought occurred to her.

"Are you here because the people in the Black Market weren't satisfied with our investigation? We were just doing our job," she tried, her voice shaking noticeably.

The guy narrowed his eyes evenly.

"This isn't about the Black Market, Lt. Dualla. This is about my brother's death. Your husband killed him in cold blood and I am here for my revenge," he said coldly.

Immediately Dee realized who the man was and she felt all the blood drain from her face. Lee had killed the boss man behind the birth of the Black Market and now his brother was out for blood. When he had told her what had happened, he had felt remorseful for having to take another human being's life, but he had swore to her that the shooting had been justified.

"Your husband kill my brother in cold blood," he snarled savagely," I have waited for months to get my revenge."

She opened her mouth to scream when she felt his cold, rough hand slammed against her lips. She blinked as she looked into the face of her attacker fearfully. His dark eye glittered with unbridled rage. Dee trembled as he forced her against the wall placing his weapon on the sink beside him while slowly pulling a sharp dagger out of the shaft hanging on his belt.

"Please...don't," she pleaded blinking back tears as he pressed the blade against her throat.

He smiled sinisterly and licked his lips almost as if he was getting off at seeing her squirm in terror.

"Shut the hell up," he growled, placing his hand on her shoulder and forcing her down to the ground roughly.

Dee let out a small cry of pain as she felt her knees slam against the tile floor brutally. She winced as he snatched the top of her black silk dress down revealing her small petite breast. She felt nausea wash over her as his eyes roamed over her maliciously.

"Your pathetic. My brother was a proud man. He would have never begged for his life. He was a good man. Now he is gone. Do you know how it feels to be alone in a universe? To go to sleep knowing that you have no legacy to pass on," he demanded, with intense rage and pain glistening in his dark eyes.

Dee stared at him somberly.

"I think that if you knew me, then you would know that I know exactly how it feels," she said barely above a whisper.

"No more talk! If you keep your mouth closed you might live a little longer then I originally intended. However, if you don't," he trailed off darkly.

Dee closed her eyes trying to keep from panicking but it was difficult. She was starting to have flashbacks about the last time she was held hostage. Things had not turned out so well and some one very close to her had ended up dying that day. Fortunately Lee and the others had ended up saving her and she sent a silent prayer up to the gods that they would do the same again.

Her thoughts were interrupted when the gun man suddenly grabbed her by the arm, snatching her up from the floor and slamming her trembling form against his chest, his dark eyes glittering with rage.

"Please...don't do this," she pleaded in terror as he dragged her further away from the exit of the bathroom.

He ignored her pleas and shoved her back against the wall by her throat. His face was filled with fury and anger as he glared at her with nothing short of pure contempt. Dee tried to breathe, but she couldn't feel any air being recieved to her lungs. As her head began to spin, she realized that she was about to die. She blinked back tears as she forced herself to come to terms with what was about to happen.

"Don't worry, Lt. Dualla. I promise it will be quick. Tonight I will have my vengance," he promised trembling angrilly, "Tonight, your husband will fill what I have been feeling every since my brother was murdered. He will know how it feels to lose the only person you love to be left alone in a universe. Tonight he will feel my pain, and so will you."

Her head snapped back violently as he slapped her hard across her face causing her to fall back to her knees from the vicious blow. She felt blood trickle from her cracked lip and it took everything within her not to strike him back. Suddenly her fear turned into anger. None of this had anything to do with her. Lee was the cause of everything that seemed to go horribly wrong in her life. He was the reason why their marriage was failing, he was the reason why everyone aboard the Galactica saw her as a joke, and he was the reason why she was being assaulted by a violent psycho who had every intention of killing her. Suddenly she didn't care anymore. She didn't know if she was going crazy with fear or rather she simply no longer had the will to be a victim as she had felt she had been for the past few months of her life. One thing was for certain. She refused to beg him to spare her anymore. If she was going to die, she was going to die with something she hadn't lived with for a long, long time. She was going to die with dignity.

Lifting her eyes from the floor, she stared at him defiantly.

"Frack it. Kill me. Get it over with. It's not going to bring your brother back and it won't phase my husband one little bit. It's like you said, he doesn't give a frak about me. So all you will be doing is getting rid of the very thing that stands between him and happiness. The joke is on you," she said laughing harshly.

Raul stared at her taken back by her seemingly lack of self preservation. The look of strong emotions of anger and pain on her face mixed with a look of craziness, made her beautiful face look twisted and demented. For a second he hesitated wondering if what she had said held any truth. What if killing his brother's, killer wife was a stupid move on his part? What if he was better off killing the Lee himself? He was strongly starting to reconsider his plan and was lowering his blade when he caught a glimmer of hope flash in her eyes. Suddenly he felt like an idiot. She had been playing him all along and it had nearly worked. Seething he pressed the blade closer to her throat with malice in his eyes. He would make her pay for her deception and as his eyes roamed over her practially nude body, a cold smile crossed his lips as he knew exactly how he would punish her.

"Clever attempt, but it dosen't matter. While thier aren't alot of things in this galaxy more powerful then love, the feeling of overwhelming guilt comes pretty damn close. I will avenge my brother's death by tak ing the life of his killer's precious wife, and your spineless husband will have the guilt of your death hanging over his head for the rest of his life," he hissed shoving her down on the floor on her back and stradddling her.

Dee struggled against him, but it was no use. He had her pinned down firmly and there was nothing she could do to escape his grasp. She felt a sob threatening to escape her lips as tears of defeat welled up in her eyes, but she fought them back stubbornly. She refused to let this maniac see her cry, no matter what it was that he planned on doing to her.

Grunting lustfully, he tangled his fingers through her thick jet black hair before he slammed his mouth down on hers. She whimpered in fear as she felt his hand holding the wicked looking knife roam across her breast, teasing her nipples with the edge of the blade. Dee felt dizzy with terror and felt as if any second, she was going to vomit. As he trailed the knife down her stomach, she squirmed in pain as she felt a ribbon of blood trickle from the superficial wound he had caused with his twisted foreplay. Just when she thought that there was no hope for her escaping the ordeal alive, a small window of opportunity opened as she felt him relax slightly. Mustering all he strength and courage she had left, Dee she brought her knee up before slamming into his groin as hard as she could and pushing him away from her with all her strength. Yelping in pain, he stumbled back a few feet putting space between them and that was all the opening Dee needed. Acting quickly, she lunged forward grabbing the gun off the sink that he had abandoned earlier, before slipping to the floor in the process leaving her a little daze as her head slammed against the tile.

Driven by fury, Raul grabbed his knife tightly and in a swift movement he pivoted on his heel and lifted his arm and flung the knife at Dee who was lying helplessly on the floor. She squeezed her eyes shut and lifted the gun before firing a shot.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter

An hour later Dee was leaning against the bathroom wall starring bleakly as the ships medics carried a body on a stretcher beneath a white sheet out of sight. Closing her eyes she tried desperatly to get the sight of the gruesome shooting out of her head, but it replayed in her mind like a bad nightmare. She suspected that it would take much therapy and many sleepless nights to come to terms of what had just happened. Closing her eyes she knew that it would be a very long time before she could erase the feeling of Raul having the barrel of a gun pressed against the back of the skull, if ever. As she continued to contemplate the events that had just transpired, she was unaware of her husband and Kara standing off at a distance watching her quietly.

When the second gunshot had went off, Lee had been frightned that Dee had been shot and killed. He shuddered as he recalled he had never felt so terrified in his entire life. As he stormed into the bathroom with the others, he had been scared of what he was going to find and in those long intense moments all he could think about was the regret that he had felt for being at odds with his wife and how he wished that he had the chance to make things right. Despite all the hell and mental and emotional anguish he had caused her during the course of thier marriage, he truly did love her. Fortunately for Lee, Dee had been in the possesion of the firearm and shot her captor in the chest. Raul had been dead long before he had hit the cold bathroom tile. When he saw that she was very much alive, he had wasted no time in sweeping her into a tight brace shedding tears of gratitude whispering how much he loved her softly in her ear as she clung to him desperatly.

"I can't believe that happened. If things had ended up differently," Kara started quietly.

Lee glared at the blonde sharply. He couldn't even believe that she wouold even say something so insensitive. Starring at her, he began to realize that he didn't have as much with Starbucks as he had once thought. He swallowed deeply as he realized that he had nearly sacrificed and lost his marriage for a woman that he could never possibly have a relationship with. Suddenly he felt confused, angry and above all, disgusted. How could he have possibly been willing to lose everything he had built with Dee for Kara? Thinking about it made him sick to his stomach as guilt slammed into him like an unforgiving jack hammer. He had almost wife and it killed him that she could have died thinking that he didn't love her when he truly did. Suddenly he was starting to see everything in perfect clarity.

"If things would have ended up diffrently, Dee migiht have ended up dead and that's not something I want to think about," he said evenly.

Before Kara could say another word, Lee stalkled off and headed towards his wife. As he came closer to her, he could hear soft whimpers escaping her lips and he felt his stomach churn from the emotional anguish he saw flittering across her beautiful dark face.

"Dee."

The sound of her husband's voice softly calling her name, made Dualla's eyes slowly open. She saw his concerned face hovering near hers and before he could even say anything, she pushed back the anger she had towards him along with her pride, before hugging him emotionally. She wept openly as she felt the concern and the love in his embrace.

Lee's heart nearly broke when his wife opened her eyes revealing tears were forming in her beautiful hazel green eyes, but he could tell that she was stubbornly fought back the urge to start crying. She smiled at him tearfully as he cupped her face in the palm of his hands and stared down at her with sincere concern and affection in his beautiful blue eyes.

"I am so sorry that you had to go through that. How are you holding up?" he asked gently as he used his thumbs to gently stroke away fresh tears that had fallen off the tip of her long,lucious thick black eyelashes.

She opened her mouth to speak, but words refused to come out. How in the world was she expected to decribe what she had just went through? She had came dangerously close to losing her life, and now here she stood alive yet mentally scarred.

"It was so horrible, Lee. I thought I was going to end up," she started but he cut her off with a stern look.

"Don't speak that way, Dee. You made it through ok, and I promise that I will never let something that terrible happen to you ever again," he vowed firmly before kissing her softly on the lips.

Dee knew that she should feel a sense of protectiveness in the arms of her husband, but the only thing she felt was a sense of emptiness. She could feel her palms grow sweaty as she pulled away from his kiss feeling that there was the possiblity that she might vomit from the weight of her emotions if she continued to kiss him any longer.

"I'm going to head back to my room and pack my things. I will meet you in the ship's hanger in an hour," she mumbled before quickly walking away.

Karl Agathon who was standing a few feet away and had been inadvertantly listening to what the couple was conversating about decided to walked away to give them some privacy to comfort each other after the nightmare that they had all had just survived through. Once he was a respectable distance away he turned to glance briefly at Dee who was clinging to Lee as if he was her life support. The sobs he heard coming frrom her direction tore through the walls of his heart. He wanted to take her in his arms and hold her untill the pain went away, but he knew that he couldn't. It wasn't his place. A part of him resented Lee for the Mr. Hyde, Doctor Jekyll act he was pulling. In his opinion, Lee only wanted to be a husband to Dee when extreme circumstances were involved. He was surprised when she kissed Lee slowly before pulling away and walking off out of Karl's view.

Moving slowly, he moved out of the shadows that he was standing in he followed her discreetly unitll she ended up at the room she was sharing with Anders. He turned the corner in enough time to see her disappear into the room before slamming the door shut behind her. Karl walked in front of the door and stopped short as he raised his fist to knock. He was hesitant because he didn't know how she would take his prescencse. After fourty seconds had passed, he had finally mustered up the courage to knock and exhaling deeply he drummed his knuckles against the door lightly. As he waited he began to ponder over what he would say when he came face to face with her. He didn't have that much time to think when two seconds after his third knock, the door to the room swung open revealing Dee's tear streaked face.

Dee forced a smile before turning her back towards him leaving the door opened as she walked back into the room. Even though her heart was beating furiously in her chest from her hostage experiance that she had an hour earlier, Helo's prescence made her feel much more safer then she had when she had been in the cabin alone moments earlier. Several seconds later, Dee heard his footsteps comming towards her and the next thing she knew he had placed one of his hands on the small of her back comfortly. She was tempted to throw herself in his arms and cry into she had no more tears to spare, but she couldn't. Her emotions was already going hay wire and despite her desire to be close to Karl, she just couldn't. She just couldn't deal with her confusing feelings for him at the moment. She had too much on her mind as it was.

"Karl...I can't do this right now. I'm sorry," she whispered fighting back tears.

Helo seemed to sense this and respectfully decided not to push. When Dee wanted to talk about things then he was willing to wait for her to come to him at her own pace. It just killed him internally to know that she needed comfort and he couldn't be the one to give it to her. It wasn't that he didn't want to be there for her, but the fact that he didn't want to make anything anymore complicated for her. He knew that she was suffering through enough without having him come in and burden her with how he felt.

"I completly understand. I want you to know that if you need anything, I am here," he promised quietly.

She smiled tearfully and before she could reconsider what she was about to do, she stood on her toes gingerly and placed a sweet kiss on his cheek.

"Thank you, Karl. For being here," she murmered before pulling away blushing lightly.

He smiled tenderly as he reached down and tucked a piece of long black strand of hair behind her ear.

"There's no need to thank me, Dee. I will always be here when you need me, no matter what," he promised huskilly before embracing her warmly.

Dee closed her eyes and relaxed as she buried her face into his muscular chest leaning into his hug. There was something about the great way he smelled and the way his strong arms felt wrapped around her that made her feel comforted. His hands began to gently rub soothing circles in the center of her back causing her to push closer to him. She knew that what they were doing was inappropriate, but she shoved her doubtful thoughts to the back of her mind. His touches were slowly making the disgusting caresses Raul had assaulted her with start to fade to the back of her mind. When he whispered her name, she pulled away slightly and stared at him apprehensively. The look in his deep blue eyes pierced her and all of a sudden she felt a wave of emotion wash over her. Before she knew what she lifted herself up on her toes and planted a firm kiss on his lips. For a brief moment it felt like if all of time had stood still for Karl. There was something so sweet yet powerful about the way she was engaging him in one of the best kisses he had ever experianced in his entire life. He released a small tortured groan as he felt her body tense beneath his touch and seconds later he pulled away abruptly with regret etched deep in his face.

"I'm sorry, Dee. As much as I want to, we can't. You are vulnerable right now and you are searching for someone to make you feel better about everything that has transpired," he tried, "I think you and I both know that I can't be the person."

Dee forced a smile as she shook her head and took a step back exhaling deeply as she stared down at her feet.

"You're right. I am so sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable. I never should have done that," she apologized feeling completly humiliated.

Karl tried to reach for her to provide comfort, but she shranked away trembling.

"I didn't mean to...I'm sorry," she repeated on the verge of new tears as her breathing became more shallow.

Karl could see t hat she was really taking what happened to heart and he didn't want her to feel bad about kissing him especially when it had nearlly took everything inside of him to pull away.

"Listen to me, Dee. Don't be sorry about what happened. Trust me, you have no idea how bad I have been wanting to kiss you for the longest time," he murmered blushing lightly.

Dee stared up at him feeling numb and utterly embarrassed.

"Yet you pulled away," she said barely above a whisper.

Karl gritted his teeth out of frusteration and desire. He wanting nothing more then to kiss her senselessly and in his more erotic imagination, make love to her untill she cried his name out in utter satisfaction, but he knew that doing that would only complicate life for both of them. Sighing softly, he cupped her face in his hands and smile down at her tenderly.

Dee stared at him with a watery smile stretched across her lips. Earlier that night Lee had promised the exact same thing and the strange thing was that she felt slightly more comforted by the fact that she believed Karl when he said it. She didn't know whether it was because of thier close friendship, or whether it was because of the amazing kiss they had just shared, but she just knew that Karl's prescence made her feel completly safe. She smiled up at him emotionally.

"I should probably leave," he said quiietly, not daring to break thier gaze.

Dee bit down her bottom lip softly, as she nodded wearilly.

"Maybe you should," she said softly as she sat down on the edge of her bed.

Karl turned to walk out of the room when he something stopped him dead in his tracks. He

"Just say when," he said softly.

Those three words completly anihilated any and every thought Karl had about resisting his feelings for her and before he knew it, he had snatched her up off the bed firmly and he kissed her passionatly silencing her effectively as his tongue explored the inside of her mouth hungrilly. He felt her melt against him and he used one arm to wrap around her petite waiste while using his free hand to tangle his fingers through her thick long black locks. Slowly they stumbled back towards the nearest wall where he pressed her against it firmly while deepening thier kiss. He moaned softly as he enjoyed the strange taste of her lip gloss mingled with something uniquely Dualla. Moments later, he reluctantly tore his lips away from her before reconnecting his mouth inside of the curve of her neck.

Dee closed her eyes and gave into the lust that was threatning to consume them both. She whimpered softly as she felt his fingertips lightly graze the bruises that had formed on the side of her leg.

"Did I hurt you?" he whispered stricken.

Dee smiled up at him tearfully as she cupped his face in her hands.

"No," she murmered before he captured his mouth with hers engaging in kissing once more.

He wrapped his arms around her drawing her close as his tongue swept the inside of her mouth slow and deliberatly. Karl felt every inch of his body tingling witih need for the beautiful woman in his arms and letting his desire run it's course he slowly began to inch the hem of her dress slowly over her waist revealing her sexy panties beneath the fabric. Tearing his lips away from hers, he knelt dow and lovingly began to place tender kisses on her injuries causing her to groan softly.

"Don't stop," she gasped arching her back as his lips began to creep closer to the soft moist area between her thighs.

The word _stop _caught Karl's attention and he began to realize that even though he wanted to continue to ravish her, he in good conscience, he couldn't. He had a wife, and a child. Hell, he had a faimly. Not to mention that Dee was feeling pretty vulnerable after the tramatizing incident she had just suffered through. He reluctantly rose to her feet causing a soft sigh of protest to come from Dee. No matter how much he wanted to be with her, he just couldn't. Not under these circumstances when he would only be feeling like he took advantage of her in the long run.

"You know, we should really stop. This is wrong," he said quietly.

Dee smiled coyly.

"I know, but I can't help myself. You are the one person right now that I know of that makes me feel unafraid. There is something about you that makes me feel secure," she murmered.

Karl felt his stomach do flip flops at the longing and the aching that he heard in her shaking voice. He wished that he could do more to restore her sense of saftely, but he knew that it would be weeks, perhaps months before Dee would ever return the feeling of normalcy. Right now she was still in shock and wasn't truly certain of what she was doing. He smiled tenderly before he cupped her face in the palms of his large hands starring down at her compassionatly.

"Listen to me, Dee. I wish that I was there to protect you, and it really kills me that I wasn't. I just want you to know that there isn't nothing that I wouldn't do to protect you," he promised.

"Karl there's something that I need to tell you," she started, but she never got to finish her statement as they were interrupted by a soft knock on the door of the room.

"Dee, open up. It's me, Lee," her husband's muffled voice announced from the other side.

Dualla felt her throat constrict tightly as she realized that she was in the proverbial rock and a hard place. She knew for a fact that Lee would be outraged to find Karl in her room, but she didn't see any other alternative. Biting her bottom lipLee walk through the threshold of the room with an distant look on his face, but that look quickly changed to surprise and confusion as his eyes shifted back and forth between her and Karl.

"I must tell you something," she repeated urgently.

Karl stopped her by shaking his head sadly.

"Don't. You and I both this was just a huge mistake. Nothing will ever come from this. It's in both of our best intrest to pretend that this had never happen," he said quietly.

Dee stared at him confused and deeply hurt. Moments earlier it had felt he had wanted her by the way he had tenderly kissed and groped her, but now his attitude had did a complete one eighty. Suddenly she felt humiliated and used. S he blinked back tears of disappointment as she walked towards the door trying to regain her composure. Inhaling deeply, she turned the golden knob and pulled the door openly firmly.

Seeing Helo standing in the room caused anger to flood to Lee's face instantly. The tension in the room was so thick that you could cut it with a butter knife. Dee felt her breath catch sharply as she subconciously took a step back away from Helo. She could see Lee was drawing a very bad conclusion and she wasn't in the mind frame to provide any defense or argue with him. It was long agnonizing moments later when her husband finally spoke.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything, but need to have a private conversation with my wife," Lee said coldly, "That's if you don't mind."

Seeing the disdain and suspcion written across Lee's face made Helo want to lash out at the other man. He didn't think that it was possible for the Major to get any more petty, but in that moment he was proven wrong. Granted, he had just been making out with Adema's wife, but Lee had no room to judge when he was out having an emotional affair with Kara Thrace. He opened his mouth to say something when the pleading look in Duala's tear filled eyes caused him to stop abruptly. As much as he wanted to give Lee Adema a piece of his mind, Karl made the reluctant decison to bite his tongue and bow out the scenerio gracefully. He knew that Dee was already distressed as it was and he didn't want to cause any futher drama to come her way.

"He was just leaving," Dee said dully.

Lee studied Dee's demeanor and judging from the way Helo was staring at her, he knew something had taken place between them. Suddenly he felt a feeling of frusteration and jealously bubbling up inside of him. He didn't know whether or not he was imagining it, but he could have sworn that she looked more flustered and her hair more frazzled then she had left him. He didn't want to stress her out anymore then what she was, but he couldn't hold back his disdain of Helo being present and hovering over her when he hadn't been around. Dee was his wife, not Karl's. He didn't understand why the Captain didn't seem to realize he was overstepping his bounds. He had the urge to go after the other man and give him a vicious tongue lashing, and as he was turning to exit the room, when he felt Dee grab him firmly by the arm causing him to halt.

"Lee, don't," she said desperatly, her heart beating furiously in her chest, "He's leaving."

"He shouldn't have even been here in the first place," he said glaring at the other man feeling highly agitated.

Karl sighed heavilly. He could see that this conversation was picking up where it had left off earlier in the dining room, and truth be told he wasn't in the mood to continue to argue with him.

"Adema, listen to me. I came here strictly to see if Dee was okay. Even if you don't want to admit it, she and I are more then co workers. We are friends. Nothing more, nothing less," he said firmly.

The look on Lee's face showed that he wasn't buying Agathon's story in the least bit. Forcing himself to keep his temper, he glared at Karl unwavering.

"This is the last time I am going to warn you, Helo. Stay the frak away from my wife," he growled dangerously.

"I was just trying to help," Karl explained patiently.

"Trust me...you've done enough. Just leave," Dee intervened sharply.

Karl stared at her understanding the reason why she was being so distant all of a sudden. He felt bad for the abrupt way he had rejected her, but deep down he knew it was the best thing for her. She didn't need to worry about an budding affair when she was better off spending her time recovering from the the trama she had just experianced. Unable to bear the weight of her steady and swallowed back his hurt before walking out of the room silently.

"He had no buisness being here, Dee. Your my wife. Mine!" Lee hissed angrilly, "What did you mean when you said he has done enough? Did he try something with you?"

Dee closed her eyes feeling complelty exhausted and she wasnt in any kind of mood to carry or any arguement with him. She knew that she had cheated on her husband by kissing Karl, but it had been something that she hadn't been able to stop. However if she knew that he would immediatly reject her after wards she would have thought twice before throwing herself at him.

"It's nothing like that. Lee, please. We were just talking. He just wanted to make sure that I was ok," she mumbled.

"I just went through a horrific ordeal and its only natural that he wanted to check up on me. He is my friend, after all. It's nothing more, Lee. It never has," she said honestly even though it hurt her to even say the words.

Apparently he still wasn't satisfied with her answer and was preparing to protest, when she stopped him abruptly.

"Lee, don't. Not after everything that has happened tonight," she pleaded barely above a whisper.

A heavy silence fell between the husband and wife, as one tried to figure out how to heal and the other how to comfort. Finally Lee took the steps to close the distance between them literally and figuratively.

"I am so sorry, Dee. I am so sorry about everything. I don't know how things got so frakked up," he whispered emotionally as he pressed his forehead gently against hers.

Judging from the tone in his voice, her heart softned drastically when she realized he wasn't just talking about the shooting that had just taken place. He was talking about the failing marriage. She could see the regret and sorrow in his eyes, and fueled by compassion, she reached up and cupped his sadden face in the palms of her tremblings hand.

"None of that matters now, darling. What matter is that we were given another chance and that despite everything that has happened between us, I love you. Whatever happened in the past is not important. Learning to move through this together is all I want. It's all I need," she whispered thickly.

He kissed her tenderly feeling her practically melt in his embrace. He held her tightly, silently assuring her that she was safe and that he would never let any harm come her way. As he deepened the kiss Dee felt guilty as she silently wished that it was Karl in her embrace instead of her husband whom she wasn't sure truly loved her.

"Look at me," he coaxed gently.

She obeyed meekly.

"I want to change everything, Dee. I want us to be more then what we are and what we have been. I want to be more devoted and attentive to you. I almost lost you once, and I am not ready to do that again," he said firmly.

Starring into his deep blue eyes she could see that he meant it and she smiled relieved. Maybe everything horrible that happened that night was a sign from the gods. A sign that her marriage wasn't over and had the chance to be saved. The thought of Helo spranged up in her head, but she stubbornly pushed it away. She could admit that she had some unresolved feelings for him, but if Lee was willing to break ties with Kara, it was only right that she did the same in regards to Helo.

"Shall we?" he smiled warmly offering his hand to her.

Dee returned his smile and took his hand graciously.

"Let's go home."


	8. Chapter 8

**An: Please Review**

A couple days later back on the Battle Star Galactica, the peace that had temporarily had settled between Anastasia and Lee Adema ended one late evening as their intense heated argument could be heard echoing down several halls of the ship. Everyone knew that the couple had their share of problems, but they had never heard the Adema's fight quite like this. It had been exactly a week to the day that Dee had been attacked aboard Cloud Nine, and the first few days after the married couple had returned back to the Battlestar, there had been a level of civility between them. Even in public their coworkers had taken notice that there had seem to be some flames of love and tenderness being re sparked between the husband and wife. However, all of that completely came to a screeching end when two days ago, things had taken a turn for the worse. A rumor had instantly surfaced throughout the ship from both civilian and military members alike that the reason for the drastic change from hot to cold between the Adema's had been caused when Lee had ditched some important date with his wife to indulge in a drinking contest with his favorite blonde, Kara Thrace. The evidence of that was clear if the conversation coming from inside of their room was any indication.

"What do you want me to say, Anastasia? I told you that I had made an honest mistake. I didn't mean to forget our plans," Lee protested desperately as he watched his wife stomp around the bedroom snatching up scattered pieces of clothing laying around on their floor.

A heavy weight of anger and pure frustration had been building inside of Dee's chest ever since the night Lee had forgotten their dinner plans two days ago in order to socialize with no one then Kara Thrace, despite the fact they had spent all week mission planning together. Hell, he had seen more of his co pilot then he had his wife and Dee had been rightfully outraged and indignant when she had, rather harshly and abruptly, made her feelings known to her husband about the whole ordeal by not only giving him the silent treatment, but also refusing to sleep in the same bed with him and even going so far as to stay in the single soldiers quarters for the past forty eight hours. Lee had found her public desertion from their shared sleeping quarters quite humiliating and had taken it out on her by trying to initiating an argument with her just to be vindictive. For awhile Dee had been able to ignore him and his condescending and snarky little remarks he would spout off whenever she would coldly ignored him, but tonight her patience had been worn thin and she was finally going to give her husband a piece of her mind. She was sick and tired of his constant antagonizing and she just wanted him to leave her alone. Turning away from her task of cleaning up their disheveled room, she faced him fixing her steely gaze on him evenly.

"If you want to go out and have fun with Kara Tharce, Lee, then by all means, do it. You don't have to antagonize me in order to do it, and make apologies that obviously don't mean a frakkin' thing," Dee exploded before storming out of the bedroom and into their bathroom wearing nothing but a gray sports bra and gray sweat pants.

Lee narrowed his eyes feeling annoyed and a surge of anger rush through him. The truth of the matter was, that his co workers and Kara had convinced him to take part in an comrade fueled drinking contest and he really felt bad for forgetting the special dinner Dee had arranged for them days earlier. However, he couldn't help but feel that she was mad for some other reason that she wasn't letting on. He had the sneaky suspicion that she was going through post traumatic stress due to the incident on Cloud Nine, but he wasn't sure and he knew that what had happened between her and Raul was an sensitive subject but he wasn't going to go there with her. Instead he decided to focus on the real issue at hand and decided to try a more simpler and gentle approach.

"Listen, Dee. I know what I did was inexcusable and really insensitive, and I'm sorry. I really am," he said pleadingly, "I just don't think punishing me by constantly being angry with me is going to help fix our issues."

Dee snorted rudely. If Lee thought that this was punishment, then he had another thing coming. Her verbal assault and her obvious right to be angry was merely just an as in her husband's case. As far as Dee was concerned, Lee had yet to see her truly angry and vindictive.

"If you were actually sorry, you would have found a way to make it up to me, but you haven't. However, to answer your answer your original question, what I want from you is commitment. I also want you to be faithful but apparently that means nothing to you," she said coldly.

Lee towered over her seething furiously.

"We have been through this a million times, Dee. I am committed to our marriage. I am being faithful to you. If you weren't so frakkin' jealous of Kara you would see that," he hissed.

Dee stared at him as if he lost his mind. For hi m to even accuse her of being envious of Kara was not only absurd but highly insulting. There was nothing about Kara Thrace, that Dee found to envy. If Dee was honest with herself she could begrudgingly admit that she had once resented Kara for capturing the heart of her husband, but now she was too pissed off to even care even more. Suddenly something came over her and she began to laugh obnoxiously.

"What the frak is it that you found so amusing?" he demanded.

"You are so damn arrogant to think that I would _ever _be jealous of Starbucks. She is so desperate to have a man that she can't even be fully committed to one for one frakkin' second of her life. She is married to Sam, yet she still chases after you. Plus she try running after you after your brother died. Or was it before?" she asked nastily before turning away from him and rummaging through her drawer for a shirt to wear for her work out session at the gym.

Lee felt his blood run cold as he stared at her in shock. Never in all his time that he knew Dee did he ever think she would say something so cruel. He could see from the expression on her face that she regretted what she had said, but it was her pride and her stubbornness that kept her from apologizing. He wanted nothing more then to walk away from her, but he wasn't going to until he had the chance to deliver his verbal departing blow..

"You can go to hell. I never went after Kara when my brother was alive," he snarled fuming before heading towards the exit of the room, "Just what the hell kind of guy do you think I am anyways?"

Dee knew that she should probably say that she was sorry, but she was too angry to even contemplate such a thing. Never in her life would she have ever imagined saying something so cold, but in the past few days Lee had bought out a side of her that was vindictive an unforgiving. Instead she decided to continue her verbal assault and clinching her fist she narrowed her eyes at her husband angrily.

"That's an easy one to answer. You are the kind of guy who has grown far too comfortable running away from your responsibilities as a husband, that I'm surprise you even still feel you have a manhood left," Dee said scathingly .

Lee laughed harshly.

"Why do I even bother trying to talk to you? Everything I say you just take it and try to turn it against me. I am sick of you always blaming me for everything," he growled agitated.

Dee stormed out of the closet with the shirt she was planning to wear clutch in one hand while glaring a piercing a sharp hole through her husband.

"Funny, because the last I checked I was the one to be secretly caring on an emotional affair," she snapped back sarcastically.

Lee scoffed rudely.

"Really? So exactly would you call whatever it was you had carrying on with Agathon?" he demanded enraged.

"Oh go to hell, Lee! Don't try to turn this all around on me! You are so full of shit. Just be a man for once and tell the frakkin truth. You have feelings for Kara. You resent being married to me, and my presence in your life is nothing but less than an annoyance.," she said coldly.

Lee smiled bitterly. He was becoming sick and tired of this constant back and forth between them and he was starting to get the sinking feeling that no matter what he did, he would never regain the trust of his wife. He was beginning to realize that he was fooling himself in believing that he could ever salvage his marriage. He could see the spiteful look in her eyes that she was beyond reconciliation and that anything he would say would not help the current situation any so the best thing that he could do at this point was to walk away.

"I can see exactly what you think of me, Dee. If you keep accusing me of doing something I'm not it's only matter of time before I do it," he growled dangerously.

She laughed harshly. The fact that he felt the need to threaten her with sleeping with Kara made her realize something that her gut and womanly instinct had been telling her all along. If Lee wanted Kara, then he was free to have her. She didn't care anymore. There were times when you were suppose to fight and other times you were meant to let go. Dee had been fighting ever since the moment she had said "I Do" to Lee. She had cried, wept, demanded, bargained and everything in between for his complete love and affection but he had never found it in his heart to do so. In that moment she made up in her mind that she had fought for him too long. It was time to let go.

"Don't threaten me, Lee. We both know that she is where you want to be so why don't you do us both a favor and just go? To be perfectly honest...I rather you be somewhere you are actually wanted to be," she said stiffly.

Lee glared at her with pain and hurt in his eyes but those emotions were quickly taken over by anger. He was sick and tired of her making him feel guilty for something that he had never done. It seemed that no matter how attentive and loving that he had forced himself to be towards her that she was never happy and had just now arrived to the point where he was sick and tired of trying.

"Fine. I'll leave, but you have no one to blame but yourself if I chose not to come back," he said hotly as he stalked towards the door seething.

"No, Lee. You have it all wrong. When you leave...I pray to the gods that you don't come back," she said barely above a whisper, before grabbing her gym bag and storming out of the room before he had the chance the exit the room ahead of her.

As she walked further away from her room she heard glass shattered from inside her sleeping quarter and she winced as she realized Lee must have broken something in anger. Her bottom lip quivered dangerously warning her that the tears that she had been forcing herself to hold back throughout their heated argument was about to fall. She was stunned by her husband's reaction because she had never witness him lose his temper in such a violent way, but in that moment, she was too annoyed and to emotionally drained to care. Her whole relationship with Lee was starting to feel alot like a broken record. She was tired of repeating herself and deep down she knew things weren't going to improve and that maybe it was best for the both of them if she put an end to their marriage. At least he would be free to be happy with the woman he had been desiring to be with and she would be able to move on and focus all of her attention on the only thing she had left in her life. Her career. Feeling bitter and frustrated beyond belief, she continued her journey towards the gym when she realized that she would needed to make a pit stop to the bathroom to wash her face of any signs that she had been crying. Heading into the latrine and froze when she came face to face with a handful of her co workers along with Kara Thrace. Everyone stopped what they were doing and watched with bated breath as the two women faced each other down.

"Dee," Kara finally greeted her with a neutral expression on her face.

Kara could clearly see that the other woman was seething and had hostility towards her, but she refused to be intimidated.

Dualla wanted nothing more then to slap the woman hard across the face, she very reluctantly resisted the urge. As much as she blamed Kara for the horrible nightmare she called a marriage, she knew that it was completely unfair to place all the blame on the blonde Vipor pilot when she knew that Lee had a major part in the destruction. Of course it would be satisfying to give Kara what she totally deserved, but Dee knew that if she didn't harness her volatile temper and made a public spectacle of herself, it would only end badly not only for her personal life, but her professional life as well. Instead she inhaled sharply before glaring at Kara almost hatefully. It was in that moment that she realized that she was fighting a losing battle and always have been. Blinking back tears of rage, she clenched her hands into a tight fist before she finally found the right words to address the other woman with.

"You win, Thrace," she said her voice trembling slightly.

Kara stared at her confused.

"What?" she asked startled.

Dee scoffed rudely.

"You heard me. Everyone on this ship knows about you and Lee, and I'm sick of having the other woman in my marriage. Like I said earlier. You win. I'm honestly through with this bullshit," she growled brushing past the flabbergasted blonde and storming into a stall where she slammed the door almost violently before locking it.

Dee heard an abrupt knock on the stall's door and she didn't need three guesses to narrow down who it was.

"Dee, it's me...Kara. Is there something you need to talk about?" she asked quietly.

"Go away. If I wanted to talk I would have said more after I have given you all the rights to my husband," she said scathingly.

Dee could faintly hear her co workers whispering scandalously among themselves, and she closed her eyes tightly desperately trying to block out all the blaring voices casting judgment on her situation. She sent up a silent prayer to the gods that they would intervene on her behalf and find some way to make everyone standing outside of the stall to leave the latrine so that she could clean her face from the tears she had been shedding. It wasn't that she was hiding from her peers out of shame... she just didn't want to risk running into any of the people who would only bombard her with prying questions under the disguise of sympathy.

"I know that you may very well may hate my guts, and parts of me doesn't blame you, but I'm in love with my husband, Sam. Lee and I could never be together. It's not like that between us," Kara tried explaining.

Dee didn't know whether to laugh sarcastically or swing the door to the stall open and slap the hell out of the other woman for having the nerve to insult her intelligence. It took every single fiber of her being to resist the urge to do the latter and beat the hell out of Kara until the annoying blonde stopped her stupid little condescending speech. Instead she briefly closed her eyes and inhaled trying to keep an level of calmness around her, but it was getting more difficult with each passing second.

"Frak it, Kara! How much more clearer do I have to spell this out for you? I don't care to hear what you have to say. You already made your desire to be with my husband regardless to his rather obvious commitment to me, perfectly clear. If there wasn't anything going on between you and Lee, then we wouldn't be having this conversation right now, now would we? Instead of standing here and annoying me any further you should find Lee and tell him the good news that you two were waiting to hear all along. He can have your pathetic ass," she hissed.

Kara wanted to make another attempt to soothe things over with the junior communications officer, but she held her tongue as she realized that any more efforts on her part would be pointless. Dee had every right to be angry with her and she knew that the chances of Lee Adema's wife forgiving and showing civility towards her were slim to none.

"For what it's worth...I'm sorry, Dualla. I know that this may not mean anything but I think you are a frakkin' great person and you never deserved any of the pain Lee and I put you through. I hope that you one day find a man who really deserves you, because in my honest opinion, Lee doesn't. If he did then he would have made you the number one priority in his life when he asked you to spend the rest of your life with him as his wife," she said quietly.

Dee opened her mouth to retort when the sound of retreating footsteps stopped her mid sentence. She pressed her ear against the door and realized that Kara had exited the bathroom along with the others leaving her completely alone.

She cursed loudly like a mad woman too consumed in her emotional rage and unspeakable fury that was surging through her like a bolt of electricity to care if anyone had heard her. Once she had ran out of the strength and desire to continue her rather pointless shouting, she inhaled deeply and bit down on her bottom lip softly as she felt a wave of sadness washed over her. Bowing her head low, warm, wet tears of frustration spill from the corner of her eyes like a free flowing water fall as she leaned against the locked stall practically crumbling beneath the weight of her emotions. Suddenly a feeling of nausea washed over her and reacting quickly, she turned towards the toilet and began to retch in violently. When she had finished she exited the stall and headed over to the sink where she began to splash cold water across her face. Seconds later she dried her skin with a towel before starring at her reflection in the mirror and what she saw made her cringed repulsed. She had heavy bags under her eyes from weeping, and her eyes were nearly bloodshot red.

_I just want this to be over...gods dammit, I just want all of this to be over, _Dee mumbled tearfully before covering her mouth and weeping softly.

*********

"...So Cally agreed to baby sit Hera while I'm away on mission and I just need you to pick her up after your shift. Do you think that you can do that or should I ask Cally to keep the baby until I get back?" Sharon asked her husband as she got dressed in her flight uniform preparing to go to work. When she received no answer from Helo, she turned and faced him wondering whether he had her heard her or not when she noticed him stretched across their shared bed starring at the ceiling with a distant look on his handsome face that said his mind was a million miles away and that he probably hadn't heard a thing she had been saying in the past five minutes. As she observed him quietly she was beginning to grow worried.

Ever since he had returned from the mission on Cloud Nine he had been withdrawn and quiet which was tall tell sign to her that something wasn't quite right with him. After Sharon had heard that one of their own, Dualla, had been assaulted and nearly killed, she couldn't help but think how easily that could have been Karl. She knew that her husband and the communication officer were good friends and a part of her felt that Karl's moodiness was stemmed from a sense of guilt he might being feeling due to the fact he hadn't been able to completely protect her. She had only seen him this particular way when he had thought Dee had been in grave danger when she had received treatment from the racist doctor responsible for systematically trying to kill off her people. He had been so desperate to save her that Sharon had briefly considered the dreaded possibility that her husband might have hidden feelings for Dualla. However she knew that was just being over paranoid. Even though she could admit that Dee was a beautiful woman, she completely trusted Karl. She knew that her husband was a devoted husband and an even more devoted father. He would never risk losing his family by having an affair with another woman.

Not bothering to give her dwindling fears another thought, she swiftly pulled her hair back into a tight ponytail before walking over to their bed and sitting down next to him quietly. Starring down at his still form, she noticed that his face was tight with worry and his blue eyes were dull and expressionless. Something was definitely on his mind and she was determined to find out exactly what it was that was deeply troubling him.

"Honeyl?" she murmured gently shaking him slightly causing him to snap out of his trance.

Karl blinked startled looking lost before smiling sheepishly. He hadn't been aware that his wife had been speaking to him and this wasn't the first time something like this has happened. Usually he would be dedicated to listening to whatever it is Sharon was saying, but he had been so unfocused lately that he found himself subconsciously tuning her out. Mustering his most charming smile, he leaned over and brushed his lips across his wife's soft sweet mouth.

"I'm sorry, gorgeous. What were you saying?" he murmured trying to appear attentive, even though he was still slightly distracted.

"Are you ok? Is there something on your mind that you want to talk about?" Sharon asked her voice gentle as she observed her husband out of wifely concern.

Karl forced a smile and shook his head in the negative. He knew could tell from the look on her face that she knew that he was lying, but telling her the truth wasn't an option. Even though he knew that she deserved honesty, Karl knew that she deserved mercy more. Telling her that he had kissed Dee would do more then anger her, it would devastate her and he didn't want to put her through the pain. Besides he wasn't ready to face the questions that she would have in an truthful manner. He wouldn't be able to tell her that her regretted what he did, because not only did he feel that it wasn't a mistake, he actually couldn't stop fantasizing about it.

"No, darlin, I'm fine," he lied with a charming grin before placing a brief kiss on her forehead.

Sharon could tell by his seemingly relaxed but deceptively tensed body language that he was being less then truthful with her. Something was eating away at him and as much as she yearned to know what it was that was causing her husband such great distress, she knew that he wouldn't confide in her unless she pressed him hard and firmly.

"Are you sure that their is nothing you want to talk about? I can't imagine how scarring that horrific incident on Cloud Nine must have been," she said quietly.

Karl stared at her startled at her inquiry before it dawned on him that his wife was a lot more perceptive and intuitive then he had given her credit for. He knew that his wife had taken notice that what happened on Cloud Nine had affected him more deeply then Karl would ever admit aloud. He had seemed to have a lost of appetite, his sexual peak which was usually high whenever he was around her, was really low, and he was slowly becoming more and more disconnected from Sharon.

Sharon opened her mouth wanting to suggest that he talked to one of the professional counselors on board that the ship had just finished overseeing training over qualified men and women, but she knew that he would balk at the idea and declare that nothing was wrong. Her eyes silently reaffirmed him that he could tell her anything, but to her dismay and disappointment instead of opening up and being forthcoming, Karl shook his head. It frustrated her that he was being so emotionally distant, but deep down she understood that it was his own personal way of coping with a traumatic experience. She rested a comforting hand on his shoulder and smiled at him reassuringly.

"It's nothing. I just wished that I would have been there to prevent all that from happening to her. If she would have been killed I would have never forgiven myself," he admitted honestly with a look of anguish and remorse flashing across his handsome face.

Sharon nodded sympathetically as she wrapped an arm around his shoulders lovingly. She could feel the tension and uneasiness in his posture and while she knew of several different ways that she could relax him, she knew that she didn't have that kind of time. She had to be in work early for a briefing. Instead, she turned to him preparing to give her husband the best advice that she could.

"Listen to me, Karl. You can't blame yourself. You can't always be Dee's savior. I think that she showed she can save her self simply by the outcome of the whole incident. I know a lot of people don't give her credit, and as surprising as this may come to you or anyone else, Dualla is a fighter. She isn't the type of the woman to lay down in the face of danger," she assured gently.

Sharon had hoped her words would have an assuring affect on her husband, but she wasn't blind. Looking at the expression on his face and judging from the tension in his muscular body, she could tell from his forced smile that he wasn't taking to heart anything that she was saying and it caused her to feel a little hurt. Usually Karl was very receptive to her advice, but today he seemed to just be patiently tolerating her.

"I love you," she murmured kissing him on the lips before grabbing her work bag and disappearing out of the bedroom.

Karl sighed heavily as he laid back down in his bed, closing his eyes, He knew that if he didn't figure out something soon in concern of his feelings torn between his wife and his friend, things were going to become and ugly and complicated mess. He knew that he loved his wife, but he could no longer deny the intense strong feelings he was quickly developing for Dee. There was something simply so enchanting and fulfilling about her beautiful soul and the fierceness of her spirit. Even when times it would seem like she was a broken woman, there was an undeniable gleam of defiance in her eyes that made showed strength and endurance that intrigued and impressed him so much. Never had he met a woman who was so quiet in nature, yet powerful in character.

He was drifting off to sleep when a soft knock on the door jolted him back to full consciousness. He opened one eye and he was considering going back to sleep when he heard the knock again. Sighing exasperated, he climbed out of bed and walked over to the door. Rubbing the sleep from his eye with one hand, he used his free one to turn the knob to open the door. Karl was surprised when he came face to face with Kara Thrace's husband, Sam Anders. He was internally wondering why Sam was standing on his doorstep when the other man brushed past him uninvited into the room flashing a half hearted smile in his direction.

"Hey, Sam. What brings you by?" he asked curiously.

"I'm sorry to just drop by uninvited, but there's something important that I need to talk to you about," San said quietly, "It's about you and Dee."

The mentioning of Dualla made Karl swallow deeply and inhaling sharply. Nodding silently, he closed the door before turning to face the other man.

"What about her?" Karl asked trying to appear nonchalant even though he was slightly nervous. Ever since the passionate kiss that he shared with the married communications officer back on Cloud Nine, he had been slightly uptight whenever he would see her around the ship or when someone would mention her name in conversation. It didn't help his conscience that whenever he heard someone mention her name that he felt a strong stirring develop not only in his chest but in other private areas. Blushing, he forced himself to keep his mind on the task on the matter at hand.

Sam sighed deeply before lowering himself down in a chair in the corner of the room.

"I am really worried about her. As you may already know, things have gotten alot worse between Dee and Lee lately and I think it's making her fall into a really bad place. Especially after everything that has happened," he said, concern evidence in his deep green eyes.

Karl felt his stomach churn slightly as he realized that Sam was truly concerned for Dee's emotional well being, and he wasn't the only one. Karl cared as well, however he couldn't help but to think that maybe the kiss he had shared with her had managed to make things a lot worse then they already had been. While he wanted to voice his concern about Dee, he knew that he had to be very careful about what he said in order to avoid drawing suspicion about his and Dee's relationship.

"I understand that as a friend you are concern, but Dualla is a grown woman. What do you expect me to do? She can handle her own private affairs," he said nonchalantly even though he knew his words sounded cold.

Sam narrowed his eyes agitated.

"I'm expecting for you to be a friend to her and talk to her, and not just abandoned her just because she is publicly going through a rough time with her husband who just happen to be your superior," he said bluntly.

Karl glowered at Sam evenly. Even though he appreciated the other man's concern, he didn't take too kindly to being talked to in such a brass way. He knew that if he got confrontational with the other man it would only end badly so he decided to try to keep his tone of voice leveled with calmness and civility.

"I tried talking to he before, but she asked to be left alone," Karl explained quietly.

Sam stared at the other man intently not remotely buying his lame ass excuse.

"You need to try again. She really can use a friend right now. You and I both know that," he said firmly.

"If you care so much about her needing a friend, why don't you talk to her?" Karl asked defensively.

Sam frowned. He couldn't believe that he actually had to spell it out for Agathon. He had gotten the nagging feeling that their was an attraction between Karl and Dualla for months, and he had truly believed that the feeling had been mutual, but now he was starting to have his doubts. If Karl could really be this callous towards Dee's feelings then Sam was beginning to think that he had come to the wrong place to appeal for an intervention on Dualla's behalf. However his gut was telling him that Karl may have just been covering up his feelings for Dee and he decided to be a little more persistent.

"I happen to care but because _you _are the one who has undeniable feelings for her, and I know that you are the one who can make things right with her," he said patiently.

Karl felt his stomach do flip flops as Sam's statement hit a sensitive nerve. His fear of what had happened back on Cloud Nine catching up with him was finally coming true. Sam had just revealed that he suspected that their was something going on between him and Dee, and while he wasn't sure that he was in the right mind frame to deny, he tried anyways.

"I don't know what you are talking about," Karl lied.

Sam's expression showed that he wasn't buying it.

"Don't try to pretend you don't care about that woman intimately, because I already could tell as much when we were all back on Cloud Nine. After everything had happened I saw you follow Dee to her room and I know that something happened between the two of you," he said bluntly.

Karl felt a light blush flood in his cheeks and he tried to turn away from Anders to hide his reaction, but when he heard the other man chuckle softly, he knew that he had been found out. For a moment he was worried that Anders insightful discovery, but he soon realized Sam wasn't there to expose him. There was the chance that he was there for good reasons. Anders had always showed a great display of integrity and honor and that made Karl a little less suspicious. He smiled slightly as he realized despite Sam's intentions were better then most, but he couldn't openly admit to having romantic feelings for Dee until he was completely sure that the other man wasn't going to sell him out.

"In case you haven't noticed, Anders, but I'm married and despite what you may think the feelings Dee and I have for each other are strictly platonic," he said trying to sound convincing.

Sam smirked with his arms folded across his chest.

"Do Sharon and yourself a favor and actually be where you will be happy. It's not fair to your wife that you claim to love her yet your heart belongs to someone else," he said evenly.

Karl narrowed his eyes at Sam frustrated. He had no ill feelings towards Anders in any way, but he was slowly becoming annoyed with all the internal prodding the other man was starting to do.

"It's not that simple, Anders. Sharon and I have a daughter together and Dee is married. Just because I'm in love with her isn't going to change that overnight," he exploded sounding frustrated.

Only when he saw the shocked expression etched deep in Sam's face, did Karl realize what he had just said and he felt his heart beat furiously in his chest. He had just confessed to being in love with Dee! The thought was so overwhelming that it nearly left him breathless. He had always known that he had some kind of feelings for her, but love? He suddenly realized that he had felt things for Lee Adema's wife that he had never felt for Sharon which left him not only feeling confused, but guilty as well.

"So tell her that," Sam said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Karl stared at the other man stupidly.

"Did you not hear anything I just said?" he growled.

Sam rolled his eyes exasperated.

"All of those are just excuses. Just because you are no longer a husband doesn't mean you have stop being a father," he said bluntly, "You owe it to everyone involved to at least be honest about how you feel."

Karl knew that Sam had a point, but he still wasn't willing to really consider the thought of being without Sharon. One hand he knew he had a family that he felt a responsible to be there for and keep them together, but he couldn't deny what he felt in his heart. What he felt for Dee was something more then just physical. He felt it deep down in the depths of his soul. It was far more then friendship. Not only did he want to be a friend to her, he wanted to be a comforter, a lover, and any and everything else in between. However Karl wasn't ready to admit that aloud and instead he decided to slightly change the topic of conversation to avoid being constantly being put on the spot.

"I have a feeling this isn't about me and Dee, I think it's more about you and your inability to preach to Kara what you are sitting here trying to preach to me," he said stiffly.

"Actually I'm not that self absorbed. I am not here about my relationship with my wife. I am here about Dee. She doesn't deserve to constantly hurt by a man who doesn't give a damn about her feelings when there's another man that's out there who is as you put it "in love" with her," Sam said bluntly.

Karl exhaled heavily.

"It's really complicated. Ever thing inside of me wants to be there for her, but I don't see how confessing how I feel for her would do any good. If anything I think it would only make things worse. She's going through enough as it is without me frakking things up even further," he said helplessly.

Sam shook his head annoyed. He suddenly realized that there was nothing he could do or say to convince Karl to do what was necessary. A part of him felt it was admirable that Karl was trying to protect Sharon and do the right thing, but the other part of him felt disappointed that Karl was doing the exact thing Lee was doing. He didn't understand why people found it easier to stay unhappy with a person they were married to when it was obvious that their heart was in another place and invested in another person. What made it worse in Sam's opinion was that Karl even admitted aloud that he was in love with Dualla. He knew if the Captain came clean about his feelings, he would not only spare Sharon in the long wrong, but the truth could possibly prevent Dee from self destructing. Rising from the chair he had been sitting in, he decided to make one final plea for Dee's sake.

"All that I am saying is that Dee is a beautiful and strong woman. She will eventually find a man that's going to do right by here since neither you or Lee have the desire to," he said curtly before leaving.

Helo exhaled deeply as Sam stormed out of the room slamming the door loudly behind him. As much as he hated to admit it, he knew that Anders was right. Living a lie would only bring more devastation and heartache to everyone involved in the long run. He didn't want to be like Lee and have to admire the woman he truly desired from afar. It wasn't fair to him and it wasn't fair to Sharon. As he grabbed his service jacket and headed towards the exit of his room, one question kept repeating in his mind like a broken record.

_What the hell was he going to do?_


	9. Chapter 9

**An: Sorry that it's been forever since I have updated this, but I am determined to finish this project, so please review and enjoy!**

"After every pilot on today's shift has received their duty assignment off the white board, I want us to meet in the hanger in thirty minutes for the safety briefing proceeding today's patrol. Guard mount dismissed," Lee said curtly as he dissembled the meeting he had called to brief his subordinates working under him for that shift.

As many of the young officers scrambled out of the confined briefing room to grab a quick latrine break or a much needed cup of coffee, Kara pushed her way none too gently through the heavy throng of her peers trying to make her way up to where the Major, who had just concluded the briefing, was still standing behind the podium in front of the room with an unreadable expression on his handsome face. There was tension pinching the corner of his eyes and his lips were drawn into a tight line indicating that he was troubled by something. The entire time he had been giving his briefing, Kara had noticed he had looked a bit distracted and frustrated. Usually he would glance at her at least once during a meeting, but today he hadn't even looked in her direction one time. While Kara wasn't poster girl for sensitivity, she knew that Lee was in the need of a friend that he could talk to, and she was willing to listen.

"So you will never guess who I heard passed out drunk while on duty last night. I'll give you a hint, he wears a very fashionable eye patch and growls," she grinned deviously as she leaned against a nearby desk, hoping that the funny story she was preparing to tell the young Major might cheer him up a bit.

Kara's amused mood faded when it apparent by Lee's rigid body posture and his failure to acknowledge her presence that he was upset.

Attempting to catch his attention in an more obvious way, she leaned closer to him and whistled loudly.

"Is anybody in there?" she taunted waving her hand in front of his face.

Suddenly Lee looked up at blonde sharply. He found her smiling at him in her usual manner as if everything was fine. He stared at her wondering for the first time in awhile at how her marriage was going with Sam. He knew that Sam was out of Kara's league, and he couldn't see what she saw in him, but he knew that the other man was deeply in love with her. He wondered if Sam ever felt the same feelings as Dee, and demanded Kara to make a choice, but he knew that Sam would never give Kara an ultimatum. Kara was far too head strong and independent to submit to any of Sam's stern demands, and Sam didn't have the guts to make a move without risking the chance of losing her.

"Was there something that you needed?" he snapped before looking up at her slightly annoyed.

Kara forced a smile trying to hide the fact she was hurt by his sharp words and harsh treatment. Something was wrong. She could tell by the wrinkles on his forehead from the look in his cold blue eyes that he was either hiding or ready to expose something. The blonde knew that Lee was angry and she had no clue as to why. A part of her wanted to walk away and leave him to sulk in his own misery, but a bigger part of her hated seeing him so unhappy which made her determined to press on and find out what was bothering him. She decided to start her inquiry by asking the most obvious question.

"If you don't mind me asking...are things okay with you and Dee?" she asked gently.

Lee stared at the blonde as if she had suddenly sprouted two heads. Was she seriously wanting to have this conversation? His marriage was falling apart mainly due to the fact that Dee was completely convince that he was secretly in love with Starbucks, and Kara was standing face to face wanting him to talk about it?

"Actually, Kara, I do mind.. What Dee and I are going through is none of your business. If it wasn't for you we wouldn't be having problems in the first place, so why don't you do me a favor and stay the freak out of it," he growled harshly.

Kara flinched feeling his words hit her like a slap in the face. From the way Lee was acting, it was as if he was blaming her for the failure of his marriage, and while she knew that she hadn't been the most healthiest thing for Lee and Dee's relationship, she was more then confident that she wasn't the sole reason for their being trouble in the Adema's marriage.

"I don't know what to say Lee, because right now, I'm really confused. Are you seriously trying to imply that I'm the main reason behind the destruction of your marriage? Because if memory serves me correctly you are just as much to blame. Instead of you pointing the finger at me, maybe you should take a hard look in the mirror," Kara growled angrily.

"What's that suppose to mean?" he demanded.

"It means that you are not as innocent as you are pretending to be, Lee. The reason that you and wife are at each other's throat isn't just because of me. It's because of the fact that you are feeling things towards me that you should be feeling for Dee," she said scathingly before whirling away from him.

As she retreated to the exit of the room, Lee couldn't help but feel a bit of guilt and shame at how he attacked Kara. He knew that she was only expressing her concern she hadn't deserve the way she had viciously snapped her. He just couldn't seem to shake the foul mood that had fallen over him.

However, he knew that despite what was going on his personal life, it didn't excuse his rude behavior. He felt that he definitely owed Starbucks an apology.

"Kara, wait," he called out softly.

The blonde halted reluctantly before facing Lee with a frown on her lips and her arms folded across her chest defensively.

"What?" she responded neutrally.

Lee sighed and stepped from behind the podium and walked towards her closing the space between them. When he was standing less then a feet away from her, he stopped with an apology reflecting in his saddened blue eyes. Thinking back to his earlier argument with his wife, there had been an intense pain in his Dee's eyes he had seen that had deeply disturbed him.

He knew that he had hurt her to her breaking point and he knew that while there was a chance that she may never get over it, he was determined to spend every waking moment trying to find a way to help mend the wounds he had caused to his wife's heart. The anger he had saw etched in her face ran so deep, he had wondered if it was possible that she even loved him anymore. Shaking the depressing thought from his mind, he forced himself to focus on the task at hand.

"Kara, I owe you an apology. I didn't really mean any of that and I was out of line. You were just trying to be a friend and I acted like an complete asshole towards you. I'm sorry," he said contritely.

Despite the simmering annoyance that remained lurking in her piercing eyes, Thrace couldn't help but smile.

"Don't worry about it, Apollo. You have said and done a lot worse to me. I just hope whatever bug that crawled up your ass will take a hike before we go on duty. If you continue to stay in that surly mood that you're end you're going to end up jumping down the throats of the young pilot recruits and I'm afraid they haven't developed balls of steels it takes to handle your verbal assault," she teased causing him to laugh.

After a comfortable moment of silence fell between them, Kara turned towards him with a curious smile on her lips.

"So what's on your mind, Lee?" she asked gently as she leaned against one of the tables starring up at him.

Lee Adema stared down at the blonde woman with a grim look on his handsome face.

"I think that Dee and I are headed for a divorce," he said barely above a whisper.

Kara eyes widened shocked as she stared at the defeated Viper Pilot who was hanging his head sadly.

"I didn't think that things have gotten so bad. I'm so sorry," she said stunned.

Lee sighed heavily.

"That's the thing, Kara. I don't know who it has managed to get this far either. I was doing everything that she wanted me to do in order for things to get better, and then I manage screw up royally and now we are worse off than when we ever have been. Every day

I'm around her it seems as if she has grown more and more unhappier, and I can't take it anymore. All I seem to do is hurt her and if letting her go makes her happy, I just have to let go," he sighed frustrated.

"You can't put all the blame on yourself, Lee," she tried.

Lee shook his head stubbornly.

"Something has to change, Kara and the truth of the matter is that I don't want to lose Dee. I don't want to lose my wife. She's...everything to me," he said honestly.

Something in Lee's voice caused Kara's heart to sink into the pit of her stomach. Starring into the Major's eyes, she could see that he was truly hurting over the fact that his and Dee's relationship was nearly coming to an end, for some reason that didn't sit too well with her. While she knew that it was stupid and rather foolish of her to be jealous in their situation, deep down she wanted to feel Lee's level of love and devotion for Dee, towards her.

"If she is everything to you, then why are you always so unhappy?" she asked quietly.

Lee looked up at her helplessly.

"I think we both know the reason why I am unhappy," he said neutrally.

When Kara continue to stare at him apprehensively, he continued.

"Kara...the truth is that I'm unhappy because I have no frakkin idea of where things stand between us. Hell, I don't even know where I stand in my own relationship with Dee. I just need to figure things out once and for all," he said firmly.

Kara shuddered swallowing a huge lump that had formed in her throat after hearing his words. This conversation was quickly becoming more raw and intense then she was comfortable with. She knew that there would eventually come a day where Lee Adema would be forced to chose between her and Dualla, and while she always knew that Lee cared deeply for her, she was painfully aware that he carried a deeper affection for his wife. While she didn't want to be caught in the middle, she secretly couldn't deny that she had feelings for Lee, and despite her feelings, she knew that she couldn't tell Lee what he needed and wanted to hear. Even if she wanted to, there was innocent people involved in their situation to consider like her husband and his wife.

Trembling, she swallowed deeply before forcing herself to look him directly in the eye.

"We should just leave things the way they are, Lee," she warned barely above a whisper as she stared down at her feet overwhelmed with strong and painful emotions. Some of those feelings were too soul wrenching to even put into words.

He stepped closer to her, ignoring her weak plea. He had to get to the bottom of the truth once and for all. He couldn't spend the rest of his marriage nor his life pinning over Kara. He needed to know for certain her feelings for him and where they stood with each other.

"Be honest with me, Kara," he implored softly as he gazed down into her conflicted green eyes brimming over with anxiety and discomfort, "Was there ever a time that you hoped there would be a chance that you and I would be more then Apollo and Starbucks? Haven't you ever wish that we could be Kara and Lee?"

"Why are you asking me this?" she asked hoarsely.

He stared her in the eye unwavering. He knew that this wasn't the ideal place nor time for them to have this talk, but he knew that it was either now or never. Starring down into her confused face, there was so much he wanted to tell her. For so long he held intimate things he had longed day and night to tell her, but gazing into her pale green eyes, he knew that the time for expressing his feelings had come and gone. The time had finally come to address the lingering sexual and romantic tension between them so they could put their emotions behind them and move on.

"You and I both know that some things are better left unsaid," Kara started.

He shook his head silently interrupting her.

"Really, Kara? I feel that whatever needs to be said between us needs to be said now, because I can't do this anymore, Kara. Dee deserves to be treated better then the way that I have been treating her lately. Earlier this afternoon I was in denial of everything until

Dee made me realize how much I have hurt her. I feel guilty because every time I look at you I feel a rush of mix feelings surge through me and while there are some days where I want to beat the hell out of you, there are other days I find myself wanting to clear out whatever public room we might be standing in and frak you there on the spot. These head games that we play with each other have to stop. We have to let go to whatever it is that continue to hang between us," he said firmly.

"I...I don't know what you want me to tell you," she said barely above a whisper.

"Just tell this me one thing," he murmured moving closer to her.

Kara breathing grew shallow and her lips parted slightly at Lee's intensity combined by his close proximity to her.

"What's that?" she asked slightly nervous.

"Tell me that there is no chance in hell of us ever being together. If you tell me that you don't feel anything for me then I will close this chapter of my life involving my romantic feelings for you and begin rebuilding my marriage with Dee," he said seriously.

"What?" she asked flustered as she slowly began to back away from him.

Faster then a blink of an eye, Lee's hand flew out and grabbed Kara's wrist preventing her from walking away. He could feel her tense beneath his touch, and while he knew that Kara wasn't the type of woman who liked her personal space invaded, deep down he

knew that he couldn't let her walk away without them having this paramount conversation.

"You heard me, Kara. For once be completely honest with me and tell me the truth. If Dee I was no longer married, would you leave Anders to be with me?" he asked very straight forward.

Kara opened her mouth to speak, but was dismayed when words failed to come out. Her heart wanted to say yes, but she couldn't. Starring into his eyes, she knew that the easy thing would be for her to give into her urges and confess that there was nothing more that

she wanted in the universe then to be with him for the rest of her life. He had been the only man to get to the core of who she was and the connection was so binding that breaking it was damn near unbearable. Blinking back tears, she understood in her heart what she had to do. They were never meant to be together. The love she had for him was something that ran very deep, but they were complicated at best and she knew that if they were to ever get together officially that there relationship would only fail miserably.

Besides, she couldn't dismiss the fact that she was also very much in love with her husband Sam Anders. A faint smile crossed her lips faintly as she reached up and tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear.

"I think that we both ended up with who we were destined to be with. Sam is the perfect guy for me, and you couldn't find a better wife then Dee. What more needs to be said beyond that?" she asked softly.

Lee stared at her intensely before nodding with a somber look on his face.

"I guess your right," he murmured.

They sat in silence for a long moment, both lost deep in their own thoughts. While they both had several different things racing through their minds, one thing was thing for certain. This was the end.

Biting softly down on his bottom lips, he reached down and cupped her face in his hands and smiled warmly.

"I know that this may not count for much, but I...I want you to know that I will always...," Lee trailed off blushing lightly.

Kara gazed up at him affectionately.

"I know. So will I," she promised with a tender smile as she backed away from him almost bashfully, "I should go."

The Major nodded, before she disappeared from the room.As Lee began to engage his Vipor in a simulated battle, he put thoughts of both Dee and Kara to the back of his mind. While he accepted the fact that whatever it was between him and Kara was over for good, he knew when it came time to deal with the situation with is wife, he was more then confident that he was making the right choice. He was saving his marriage.


	10. Chapter 10

**An: **This chapter gets pretty steamy and mature adult situations takes place, so if you are offended please don't continue any further...otherwise, enjoy!

_Breathe, Anastasia. Just breathe..._

This was the phrase that Anastasia Adema kept repeating to herself as she stormed into her sleeping quarters slamming the door behind her violently. Looking around the room, Dee was relieved to find that her husband was nowhere in sight. She wasn't sure what she would have done if she would have came back to the room to find Lee there in the mind frame that she was currently in, and she was glad that she didn't have to find out.

As she paced the length of her bedroom attempting to cool down after her confrontation with Kara Thrace, she felt completely emotional drained, but she that there was something she had to do, and it couldn't be put off any longer. In order to prevent further public humiliation and the feeding of the scuttlebutt mill aboard the ship about the deterioration of her marriage, she had placed an urgent request to the Admiral that she would be allowed to take up temporary residence in an unoccupied singles bunk room until she and Lee resolved the complicated issues that they were having. Due to the heated exchange that she had with Lee earlier, Dee truly felt that their marriage had finally been fractured beyond repair. Confronting Kara had made her realize that there wasn't anything left of her marriage that was worth fighting for. Dee knew that the time has come where she would have to make a decision concerning her marriage and while her strongest urge was to file for a divorce, she knew that she needed to think long and hard before she made any permanent decision.

Stalking to the far side corner of the room, she grabbed her luggage carrier placing it on the bed, before loading a majority of her clothing articles inside of it. Once she had finished, she stalked out of the room and made her way down the hall where her new room was just at the end of the hallway from the quarters. Slipping her card into the key slot, she turned the knob and stepped over the threshold. Walking into the room, she smiled for the first time that day as she realized that she was more then satisfied then she had expected to be at what she found. Despite their being three separate sleeping bunks in the room, she would be the only one occupying the space. She was finally getting something that she hadn't had for awhile. Solitude.

She was preparing to take curl up and take a nap when an abrupt knock on her bedroom door nearly made her jump three feet in the air. Wiping her tired, stinging eyes, she took a deep breath before heading towards the entrance of her sleeping quarters. She knew that there was only two people who knew that she was temporarily residing in that room and right now she wasn't in any mood to talk to her Gaeta or her father in law.

Opening the door, she was startled to find herself standing face to face with the last person aboard the ship that she wanted or expected to see.

"Karl!" she exclaimed genuinely surprised to see him, "What are you doing here? How did you know how to find me?"

Karl stared down at the petite lieutenant with a nervous smile.

"I saw you coming in here when I was on my way to the chow hall. The reason I dropped by is because I needed to talk to you for a second. It's important," he said somberly.

Dee shifted uncomfortably. She knew what he was there to discuss, and she wasn't emotionally stable to engage in the conversation that he was trying to have. Clearing her throat, she made an attempt to evade his prodding gaze.

"Listen, Agathon. If it's about me being late for work the other day I meant to find you and apologize about that. I know that you barely get days off where you can spend with Sharon and Hera and it's not fair that you were stuck covering my shift," she mumbled apologetically.

"It's not about that, Dee, but I think you already knew it," he said quietly.

"Oh?" she murmured shifting uncomfortably.

Seeing how the silence was becoming more awkward then comfortable, Karl cleared his throat quietly and silently mused of an different approach.

"How have you been?" he asked neutrally as he watched her face closely for any signs of deception.

As he had expected, the smile that she flashed him was forced and lacked sincerity.

"I've never been better," she lied.

"Dee, I feel that I need to clear the air between us. It's about what happened between us on Cloud Nine," he started.

Dualla felt a hot blush creep across her body at the mention of the hot and passionate kisses they had exchanged that fateful night. While the memories brought back a brief surge of desire lust, she knew that she couldn't afford to stroll down memory lane in that particular moment.

"Listen, Karl. I don't need an explanation, and you don't owe me one. Really. Everything that needed to be said that night was said," she said quickly, desperate to change the subject.

Dee already had her hands filled trying to handle her mixed emotions towards one man in her life. She didn't need her hands overflowing trying to deal with another.

"I didn't mean to say what I did that night. I thought that by convincing you that what happened between us was a mistake, it would make things easier for you," he said softly.

Dee scoffed rudely.

"What are you looking for me to say, Agathon? I never asked you to lie to protect me. You made that decision on your own. I took you at your word and moved on," she said evenly with her arms folded tightly across her chest.

"I'm sorry," he tried.

"Well guess what? It really doesn't really at this point and time now does it? You were obviously very good at being convincing, because I fell for all of your acts. Including the kiss when you said it didn't mean anything to you," she said stiffly as she turned away from him.

Karl opened his mouth to speak, but one look at Dualla's face told him that she was angry and was not receptive to hearing any excuse he had or apology he made. Sighing heavily, he began to feel like he made a mistake coming there and discussing their kiss. He had only wanted to make things right with things and reveal his true feelings for her, but she seemed to have had a change of heart since the last time they had spoken. He couldn't blame her. Not after he had told her that he thought the kiss they had shared should have never happen. He could only imagine how it had to have deeply wounded her for her to put herself out there on the line only to be rejected the way he had done her back on Cloud Nine.

"You're right, Dee. Sorry I bothered you," he mumbled quietly.

Karl knew that he should leave immediately before he made matters between them any worse, but he couldn't. The moment that he crossed over the threshold leading out of her room there would no more trying. Rooted in the spot he was standing in, he knew that he it wouldn't be possible for him to walk away from the situation and Dee when he could clearly see that she hurting deeply. If they continued to leave things between them unsaid and moved on with their separate lives, they would be forced to be stuck in their less then satisfying marriages and pretending that they were nothing more then just good friends. He gritted his teeth as he stubbornly refused to let that happen. Angry or not, Dee was going to have to do a lot better job of trying to push him away. Securing the door to the room, he turned to face her with his eyes narrowed in determination.

"Despite what you may be thinking right now, I do care about you. I care about you more then I was willing to admit to myself," he growled emotionally.

Dee stared at him evenly. She could secretly admit that she wanted nothing more then to believe Karl Agathon, but she wasn't prepared to let her guard again. Not after he told her that the kiss and the moment that they had shared over a week ago on cloud nine was wrong. When he had told her that it would be in both of their best interest to forget what had happened between them, she had not only been devastated, she had felt like a complete and utter fool. Shaking her head, she mentally decided that she was too proud to dwell on what could have been and should have been with Karl Agathon. Much like her relationship with her husband, Dee was over Karl, and she was prepared to tell him as much, when suddenly she stopped when she felt him take her hand in his.

He stared down into her eyes, his blue eyes boring into hers imploringly.

"Listen. I understand that you are angry with me, and you have every right to be. If you don't believe anything I say, just please...believe this one thing. I never meant to hurt you that night. I thought I was protecting you when I should have been honest,"

he promised desperately.

"If you were honest that night, what would have you said to me?" Dee asked softly as she stared at him with her hazel eyes boring into his steadily.

"If I was honest that night, I would have told you that the kiss meant a lot to me. When we kissed, it was the first time in a long time that I felt wanted and desired. The way you looked at me, makes me feel like you really get me. Every time I stare in your eyes, I know that this thing between us is more then a physical attraction," he murmured with desire radiating in his beautiful blue orbs.

Her soft confession left the Captain breathless. He could tell from looking in her tear stained eyes that the words that had just flowed from her lips was every bit as powerful as they were sincere.

"Really?" she asked quietly.

"Yes," he assured huskily.

She stepped closer to him with lust and hope in her eyes as she looked up at him with a soft smile on her lips.

"Prove it," she said barely above a whisper.

Her words took Karl by surprise and before she had the time to consider the consequences of her demands, Karl moved closer to her, gripping her wrists tightly in his hands as he pressed her against the wall, kissing her hungrily. Dee's eyes widened surprise, but she didn't pull away. Instead, she sighed collapsing in his eager embrace and moaned softly with delight as his soft wet tongue gingerly explored the inside of her mouth with intense passion and desire. Moving his hand slowly, Karl gently used his fingertips to bring down her silk bra straps off of her dark shoulders revealing her small but pleasantly full breast quivering as her breathing grew shallow. His deep blue eyes bored intently into hers as he broke their kiss briefly. Starring at the flustered expression on her attractive face, he could tell that her emotions practically mirrored his own. While neither of them were completely comfortable with what they knew what they were about to happen between them, there wasn't any chance that either of them were willing to stop the progression.

Slowly pulling his brown tee from over his head along with his dog tags, he placed them on a chair in the corner of the room before silently making his way back across the room towards Dee who was sitting on the edge of her bed with an excited yet apprehensive expression shadowing her beautiful dark face. He could tell that she was nervous and a bit flustered something that Karl found completely adorable. He watched with bated breath as she flipped her dark long hair from over her shoulder before proceeding in taking off her black tank top leaving her upper torso completely bare and her very perky breast exposed for his full viewing pleasure.

"You're so beautiful," he murmured huskily before wrapping one his arms around her petite waist and gently lowering her deeper into the twin sized mattress. As he buried his face in the crook of her neck placing slow and sensual kisses against her throat, he could feel her soft moans of contentment vibrate against his lips causing him to grin wickedly.

Rolling across the sheets, both Dee and Karl could be heard groaning and gasping lustfully as they pulled and tugged off each others clothes eagerly.

"I want you to frak me. Hard," she murmured hotly in his ear causing a shiver to come dancing down his spine

A huge grin spread across Karl's lips in response to her saucy statement, but it had caused a bigger reaction between his thighs. He had never known that the reserved and quiet Dualla had a devious kinky side to her. Karl watched wide eyed as she slithered out of her pants before tossing them on the floor where they joined her shirt. He swallowed deep wanting to vocally remind her of how completely and devastating beautiful and sexy he found her, he didn't want to risk ruining the moment by talking so he remained speechless.

As Dee allowed her eyes to travel down Karl's impressive muscular frame with muscles ripping through his well toned arms, a look of intense desire radiated across her face. A blush crept across his face as he heard Dee gasp as her eyes widened delighted by the sight of what was coming awake between his thick muscular thighs. While she had lovers in the past, none could quite compare to Karl Agathon. His body seemed as if it had been carved out of a marble sculpture. She bit down on her lower lip gently as he began to lower his body down towards her slowly. Suddenly she was nervous.

Sensing her hesitation, Karl stopped and stared into her eyes concerned.

"What's wrong? Are you ok?" he asked gently.

Dee smiled sheepishly.

"I'm just waiting to see if you were preparing to change your mind again," she admitted softly.

"I think we both know that we are past the points of changing minds here," he said huskily with amusement in his voice, "You want this just as badly as you do."

The traces of arrogance and desire that she heard in his voice would have turned her off if it would have come from anyone else, but coming from the usually modest Captain made her lust heighten greatly. Seeing him so in charge and prepared and willing to dominate caused an shiver of excitement to dance down her spine.

"Maybe," she teased playfully.

He arched his left eye brow amused as a smirk spread across his lips.

"You think you can handle me? I'm not Adema," he taunted while tracing his finger lightly across her bottom lip.

His words caused Dee's eyes to lower as she stared up at her lover with a challenge hanging on the tip of her tongue.

"And I'm not Sharon," she retorted huskily, her lips mere inches from him.

"Touché'," he murmured amused before slamming his mouth against hers.

Even though he wanted nothing more then to then treat her body with love and gentleness, he could tell by the aggressiveness in her kiss that she didn't want him to make love to her. Instead the animalistic lust he saw radiating from her smoldering hazel eyes showed that she wanted something more intense, more darker. She wanted and needed to be frakked, and he was going to frak her until the point she screamed his name.

She released a soft gasp as she felt him ease into her slowly. Karl grunted in surprise as she used her strong muscular legs to flip him over so that she was straddling him. As Dee began to grind against him slowly, she stared down into his handsome face filled with pleasure as she bit down on her bottom lip seductively. Reaching up, he gently grabbed the back of her neck lowering her face down towards his so that he could kiss her. As he captured her sweet lips with his own, he reached down and firmly gripped her hips firmly pushing further inside of her.

He could see flashes of pain and pleasure washing across her face and he couldn't help but amazed by how gorgeous she looked withering with lust and desire. Unable to stop himself, he pressed his lips gently against her ear and began to whisper her name helplessly as he felt her womanhood tighten around him. As he thrust deeper into her he felt her whole body tremble as she released a rather loud cry of pleasure. Her nails dug deeper into his broad shoulder and her back arched as the weight of his passion slammed deep inside of her once more. The sound of her soft sweep whimpers excited him more and more with each passing second and with each gentle tug of his hair.

The worn grey bed sheets began to stick to their slick and sweaty flesh as they rolled across the bed playfully fighting and tugging at one another for control. As she felt his strong hands grasp her ass, she began to ride him harder and faster causing him to moan louder.

"Anastasia," he groaned quietly as he began to feel an orgasm began to build up inside of him.

The way he whispered her name was like a lover who had said the name a thousand times. It touched something very deep inside of her that she hadn't felt touched in a very long time and for that a brief second, she became terrified. In that second she was having flashbacks about her first time making love to Lee when he had called out her name in the peak of passion. She felt her terror turn into guilt, and for a moment, she considered pulling away from Karl. However the thought disappeared from her mind, as waves of pleasure crashed over her.

As Karl watched fascinated as Dee withered beneath him like an possessed passion filled nymph, he realized that what he was discovering about Anastasia was far more then he had bargained for. He couldn't deny the more he learned about Dee, the more intrigued he became. There was something completely innocent yet intoxicating about the woman. She was far more then the gentle woman she had always presented herself as. Tangling his fingers through her thick luscious black hair, he yanked back gently enjoying the soft mew that escaped her moist lips.

"You're so frakkin' gorgeous," he whispered hoarsely as their bodies rocked together in one harmonized sync.

As she tossed her head back causing her hair to fall back around his shoulder he noticed the bruise mark that had been left behind after her attack was slowly beginning to fade. The thought of her being harmed by any man including her husband made him tense, and as he stared transfixed at the vulnerable woman breathing heavily on top of him, he truly realized that she needed a savior, and he was determined to be just that. He knew that she needed someone who was going to be willing to help her heal and pick up the broken pieces of her heart. She needed him. He didn't want to scare her away by offering in that moment to be the man she so desperately wanted and needed in her life, but he felt compelled to at least assure her that she would never need to worry about being devastated ever again. Cupping her face in both of his hands, he stared up into her eyes seriously.

"I will never let anyone hurt you ever again, Anastasia. I swear," he vowed firmly as he stared deep into her eyes as he took one final plunge deep into her womanhood that had tightened almost painfully around him.

She released a broken scream filled with pure sexual satisfaction before she collapsed against him too weak to continue to support her weight on her own. Karl growled loudly as he exploded seconds later gripping her body tightly against his as he convulsed violently from pleasure. Sweat that had formed on his body fell lightly on Dualla's lithe body mingling with the sweat and moisture covering her from head to toe. Shivering lightly, she struggled to catch her breath as he held her tightly against his quivering body. For a moment Dee closed her eyes and allowed herself to bask in the glow of the incredible sexual experience she had just been through. It had been quite sometime since she had experienced such intensity and pleasure in sex.

"Frak, Dee. You feel amazing," he groaned weakly as he buried his face in the crook of her neck her

"That was quite...incredible," Dee said breathlessly as she collapsed deep into the mattress, her whole body going completely limp.

He kissed her gently on the lips feeling himself becoming sexually aroused once more. Despite wanting to stay in the bed with her and getting an encore of beautiful and hot love making session that the had ever experienced, he knew that he had to get back to work and neither of them could risk being caught together. Almost as if she was reading his mind, she pulled away from him and smiled apologetically before getting dressed. As he reached for his pants and begin to get dress as well, he knew he would have to deal with the consequences of his actions eventually, but in that moment he didn't care. All that matter was after months of painful longing and mounting desire for Dualla, he was finally where he wanted to be. He made his choice, but one fear was constantly nagging at the back of his mind. He knew where he stood, but had Dee made her decision and in the end would it fair well for either of them?

**End Note: Please review to keep the momentum going! Thanks!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

**An: Please Review!**

Sam groaned softly as he sat up in his bed yawning wearily. Two hours ago, he had returned from working out in the Battleship's gym and it wasn't long after his shower when he had fell asleep in his sleeping quarters. As he became more conscious with each passing moment, Sam rolled over to climb out of bed, and as he did so, he caught a hint of Kara's fragrance on the sheets. A faint smile crossed his lips as he thought about the passionate love session he and his wife had experienced the night before. It had been several long weeks since the married couple had experienced physical intimacy with one another and the encounter had been nothing short of amazing. Before that hot and passionate night, it was safe to say that Sam's relationship with his wife had been strained and slightly cold.

Sam felt his heart twist painfully in his chest as he realize that when it came to trying to trying to keep his relationship with Kara strong, he was fighting a losing battle. He had never been an insecure man, but being married to his emotionally crippled wife had changed that. There was a time that he thought that he could be everything that Kara Thrace wanted and that they could have a life filled with happiness and love, but he wasn't sure of that anymore. He knew that he had done everything in his power, short of begging, to make their marriage work, but from the signals she had been sending his way lately, he had gotten the distinct feeling that she wasn't interested in making an effort.

Forcing all thoughts of his complicated marriage from his head, he walked over to the sink across the room, before turning on the faucet on and splashing cold water onto his face in an attempt to feel refreshed from his nap. Using his shirt, he dried his face before glancing into the mirror. Catching sight of his reflection in the mirror, he felt his stomach do flip flops. Despite how much he loved his wife, he couldn't continue to ignore the major problem in their relationship which involved him playing second best to Lee Adema, and one way or another, he was determined to find out if what he had with Thrace was worth fighting for, once and for all.

Before he could think on the matter any longer, he heard the door knob to the room turn and seconds later, the door opened revealing his wife holding her bag of gear in one hand, and a weary expression etched deep on her face.

A tender smile stretched across his lips as he observed her as she crossed over the threshold into their room. Her short blonde hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail, and she was humming something softly under her breath. His smile soon faded when he saw Lee come into the room behind her.

The mere fact that the major was present in their bedroom didn't settle too well, and judging from the uncomfortable expression on Lee's face, Sam could tell that the other man was wanting to be anywhere then where he was in that moment.

Whether Kara was blatantly ignoring the situation or she was simply in deep denial over there was palpable tension and hostility in the atmosphere, one thing was for certain. Sam wanted nothing more then to take his anger and frustration out on the other man. Knowing that he would pay hell from his wife if he reacted on his primal urges to throw his fist in the other man's face, he shoved his hands in his pockets and forced a smile.

"Hey honey. How was your day," he asked quietly, attempting to ignore the other man's presence in the room.

Kara smiled brightly as she placed her heavy bag down near the foot of their bed.

"It was pretty good. What are you doing home early? I thought you had training today," she said startled.

He nodded stiffly.

"I did, but we finished early so I was able to take some down time," Sam informed before closing the distance between them, greeting her by placing a tender kiss on her lips.

Kara pulled away taken back and a bit surprised. She wished that she had known that Sam was going to off early so she could have avoided the currently awkward and uncomfortable situation. She opened her mouth to say something, but before she could, Sam had already recaptured her lips with his in a passionate yet loving kiss.

"I missed you," he murmured reaching up and tucking a loose strand of her blonde hair behind her ear.

"Sam," she chided blushing deeply.

"Maybe I should go," Lee mumbled uncomfortably as he inched closer towards the exit of the room, "I have to prepare for the briefing anyways."

Sam smiled coldly.

"That's not a bad idea Adema. May I suggest that before you prepare for your precious meeting that you should go and check in on your own wife. Word around the ship is that she hasn't been as happy as she could be," he said snidely.

"Sam," Kara protested staring up at her husband mortified, "That was _completely _over the line."

For a moment it seemed as if Lee might become confrontational, but much to Kara's relief, he didn't. Instead he plastered on a civil smile, before boring a hole through Sam with his piercing gaze.

"What's going on with my wife is really none of your concern, Anders. You will do well to remember that," Lee said evenly before walking out of the room.

Sam smirked smugly, and went to lean in to continue to kiss his wife, but was startled when she pulled away abruptly.

He could tell by the look in her green eyes that she was displeased. Very displeased.

"What is it? What's the matter?" he asked startled.

Kara stared at him, her lips twisted into an unhappy scowl.

"I know that this is something that you aren't going to want to here, but you really are going to have to stop whatever it is that you have against Lee. You are acting like a jealous idiot," she said annoyed.

Sam stared at her in disbelief.

"Are you serious right now, Kara? You come home in the middle of your shift with Lee in tow. What the frak am I suppose to think?" he demanded.

Kara scoffed rudely and glared at him with her arms folded across her ample chest in her brown undershirt.

"You _suppose_ to trust that I wouldn't be unfaithful to you, and that I actually have a little thing called integrity. Do you honestly think I could frak another man behind your back?" she inquired offended.

"I don't think you would just frak any man. However, I do think you would frak Lee," he said curtly.

His words were like a harsh slap to the face, but Kara shook it off, refusing to let him see how much he had hurt her.

"If you have so little faith in my character then why are you even with me?" she asked hotly.

Sam glared down at her feeling

"Believe it or not its because I truly do love you and I'm trying to make this thing work," he growled frustrated.

Kara turned away from him abruptly feeling a whirlwind of emotions rage through her. Even though she understood where her husband was coming from, it still didn't sit well with her that he didn't trust her enough to be faithful to him.

"That's not fair and you know it," she said quietly, "I'm trying just as hard as you are."

Sam stared at her in disbelief.

"I think we both know that isn't true," he scoffed rudely.

Kara rolled her eyes and folded her arms across her chest agitated.

"Can we please not have this conversation right now? I have a briefing to prepare for. I don't have time for this," she reminded impatiently.

Sam flushed darkly as he glared at his wife. He had finally grown sick and tired of Kara's naive and nonchalant attitude. The mere fact that she was willing to put their marriage on hold for something so trivial angered him and he was more then ready to confront her about it.

"Excuse me if this may sound absurd to you, but we eventually need to communicate and I think now would be appropriate," he said neutrally.

Kara exhaled heavily.

"You don't understand. I can't do this right now," she started.

"When do you prefer that we have this conversation, Kara? After our marriage falls apart?" Sam snapped evenly.

Kara stared at him baffled.

"What are you talking about? Everything is fine," she tried.

"When are you going to stop lying to yourself? Things between us aren't fine. Things haven't been fine for a long frakkin' time, and you know that," he growled evenly.

"If this is about me and Lee, I have told you a thousand times that nothing has happened," she started.

"This isn't about whatever is going on between you and Lee. This is about what's between me and you. It's about whether or not you are going to make an effort to make this marriage work," he yelled enraged.

"Who's lying to themselves now? You and I both know that this a jealousy thing. I have told you a thousand times before, if I wanted to be with him, then I would," she cried.

"You might have your chance to be with him soon enough," he grumbled underneath his breath, unaware that his wife had heard him clearly.

"What's that suppose to mean?" she demanded.

"Nothing," he growled.

"If you have something to say to me, you should just say it," she said coldly.

"I'm not going to just sit back and watch as you continue to pretend to be happy with me while you just want to be with Adema. Dee isn't sitting around waiting for Lee to be a good husband to her. She's a smart woman and she proved that by showing that she was too good person to wait around until Lee got his act together. At least she was bright enough to realize that when she has better options," he said coolly.

Kara's eyes widened stunned.

"Are you saying that Dualla is seeing another man?" she asked in disbelief.

"I never said that," he started, but Kara wasn't listening. Instead she whirled on her heels and headed towards the door.

"Where are you going?" he asked suspiciously.

Kara started at him evenly.

"I'm going to warn Lee," she said honestly.

"You can't tell Lee. It's not your place," Sam growled.

Kara stared at him in disbelief.

"If his wife is running around on him with another officer, Adema has every right to know about his wife's indiscretions," she started.

"You are such a frakkin' hypocrite," he laughed harshly.

"Excuse me?" she growled dangerously.

"Instead of worrying about Dee's indiscretions, maybe you should play closer to attention to your own. You are the reason why Dee and Lee are having the problems they are having and instead of actually ceasing to play head games with Lee, you continue to indulge him, fracturing his marriage and destroying your own in the process. It absolutely boggles my mind to watch you stand there and with some delusional sense of righteous indignation think that you have any room to judge her," he snapped angrily.

"The difference between me and Dualla is that I never cheated on my husband. I was never unfaithful to you," she snapped.

Sam snorted rudely.

"Just because you didn't frak Adema doesn't mean that you weren't unfaithful. You are more committed to playing his second leading lady, then you are in being my wife," he growled.

"Go to hell," she hissed furiously.

Sam shook his head before smiling sadly.

"Just be honest with me for once. The only reason you married me is because you knew that you could never have the man you really want, because you were too big of a coward to go after him. Instead, you settled with the only other man who wanted you besides Lee," he said scathingly.

Kara stared at him as if she had just been slapped across the face. She couldn't believe that he would say something cruel.

"You frakkin'' bastard! How dare you," she roared.

"Don't play innocent, Kara. For once, do us both a favor and just be real with me," he growled.

The blonde stared her husband down with a cold look in her eyes. She couldn't believe that he would say such horrible things to her. She knew that she had deserved some of what he said, but Sam to to accuse her off being a coward was stepping way over the line.

"Go screw yourself, Sam," she said quietly before storming out of the bedroom before slamming the door violently behind them.

She had to find Lee. She had to let him know what was going on. Ironically as she headed to aid a friend's marriage, she was unaware that she her own marriage just officially ended.

"Are you sure that this is what you want?"

The Admiral's stern question caused Dee to shift her weight from one foot to the other as she stood at ease in front of her commanding officer's desk. While she usually wasn't ever intimated by anyone, but in that moment the Admiral's steely stare caused her to feel anxious and slightly uncomfortable. Moments earlier, he had requested her presence in his office to discuss her communication logs, but during the conversation, she had made a request that had taken him completely by surprise. She had submitted paper work requesting a divorce from his son, Lee Adema and while she hadn't wanted to go directly to her father in law with her very personal and difficult decision, she hadn't been left with any other choice. Dee knew that if she went through alternative channels, word would eventually get out, and she didn't want the Admiral to find out her decision to leave his son from anyone else but her.

Seeing that he was waiting patiently for her answer, she inhaled sharply and nodded.

"Yes sir. I had a lot of time to think about this decision, and I believe it is the best course of action for me," she said firmly.

"Does Lee know?" he asked bluntly.

Dee flushed deeply feeling her discomfort grow. While she hadn't verbally informed her husband of her decision, she knew that deep down Lee had to have suspected that this would happen sooner or later. All they have been doing lately was fighting and bickering, and after their last huge argument along with the fact that she had slept with Karl, she finally come to accept that her marriage was over and the decision had been clear. All that was left was making it official.

"I believe he suspects its inevitable, sir, but I plan to inform him of my decision tonight," she replied softly.

The Admiral took off his glasses and placed them on his desk and briefly rubbed his fingers across his weary eyes. Starring at the woman before him, he had been more then a little shock at her request. He had heard scattered scuttlebutt along the ship about Dee and Lee having some personal problems, but he hadn't known that it would have come to this. Although he had felt a strong urge to try to counsel her and change her mind on the matter, he knew that it wasn't his place. If this was what Dee wanted, he had to reluctantly respect that.

After a long moment of silence fell between them, he exhaled deeply before pushing back from his desk and slowly made his way over to the sad woman standing before him. Staring down in the beautiful tensed face of his daughter in law, he could tell she wasn't happy, and by the looks of it, she hadn't been happy for quite a long time.

"I'm sorry that you came to this decision. I don't know anything about what has happened between the two of you, but I wish you the best of luck, Anastasia," he said sincerely taking her by surprise when he embraced her.

"Thank you, sir," Dee said her voice cracking slightly before she snapped to attention and saluted before quickly exiting his office before he could see the emotions on her face.

Making her way out of the Admiral's office, she was relieved that the conversation she finished having with him moments earlier was finally over. She had requested to speak to him, and while the conversation that had taken place between her and her superior had been very uncomfortable, she was relieved that she had finally set something in motion that would solve all of her problems in her marriage.

As she headed towards the quarters that she currently was staying in alone, she slowly became lost deep in thought. It had been a week since she had slept with Agathon and ever since that fateful day, she hadn't been able to stop thinking about the passionate and fiery intimate encounter. He had mad love to her in a way that she had never experienced before, and as bad as it made her feel on the inside, she couldn't help but wonder if she would ever feel that way again. Dee had tried desperately to avoid him ever since the incident, but her efforts had failed miserably. Several times he had brushed up against her, and even though it had been purely accidental, her stomach would flutter filled with butterflies. Every time their gazes would meet accidentally across the communication bridge, she would look away abruptly feeling warmth creep up the back of her neck and flood her face. She felt as if she was losing her mind. One minute she was regretting sleeping with the handsome Captain, and the other minute she was finding herself wanting to relive that hot passionate night once more. It was almost as if she wasn't sure what she wanted anymore.

After she had slept with Karl, she realized that she could no longer be married to her husband. She had thought her cheating on Lee would make her feel guilty and horrible, but it didn't. Instead it had the opposite affect. She had grown more resentful and angry with Lee, and deep down she blamed him for driving her into another man's arms. She was having a lot of regrets and the biggest one of all was saying yes when Lee had asked her to marry him. She could have spared herself a world of hurt and pain. Exhaling sharply, she pushed open the door to her sleeping quarters and found Lee sitting on the edge of their bed with his head bowed and an unreadable expression on his handsome face. Closing the door behind her softly, she made her way towards

Walking into the room, she was stunned to find Lee inside the room, leaning against the wall with his arms folded across his chest.

"What are you doing here?"

"I got off duty early. We need to talk," he started.

"I know. I just don't know exactly where to start," she said softly.

Lee nodded in agreement as he sat down on the edge of the bed next to her.

"I never thought this day would come, and now that it's here, I don't know what to say. Hell, I don't even know how to feel," he said quietly with an unreadable expression on his handsome face.

Dee felt her heart do flip flops inside of her chest. As much as she knew that what she was about to say would hurt them both, she knew that it had to be done. When she had saw Karl earlier that day, he had made it clear that he wanted to have a future with her and knowing that he was planning to end things with his wife, gave her the courage to do the same with her husband.

"I don't know what to say. How did you find out?" she asked her voice barely audible.

He smiled faintly.

"I saw it for myself. I still can't believe it," he said quietly."

Dee bit her bottom lip in anguish as she stared down at her feet. Her worst fear had become a reality. Lee had found out about her affair. She had thought that the conversation that she had with the Admiral earlier had been between a subordinate and her boss, but now she was realizing she was wrong. Instead of taking in her admission in to account as her commanding officer, he instead had been listening as her father in law. She sighed heavily.

"Lee, you have to believe me. I never expected for this to happen," she whispered thickly.

He pressed his fingers against her lips silencing her effectively.

"Yeah, neither did I. When I found out, I didn't know how to react. The first thing I thought about was us, and everything that has been going wrong between us," he started.

Dee swallowed nervously.

"Lee," she tried.

He shook his head cutting her off helplessly.

"I realize that I have acted appropriately in our marriage, and I apologize. There are a lot of things that I regret. I should have been a better husband to you and I'm going to change that," he promised firmly.

Dee felt the corner of her eyes burn with tears. She could see that he was being genuine, but unfortunately for him, his moment of being enlighten came a little too late. A part of her wanted to be angry with him for waiting so long to make a change, but she couldn't. All she could do was stare into his handsome face with tears of remorse and sadness reflecting in her hazel green eyes. Clenching her fist tightly, she bit down softly on her bottom lip to keep from breaking down in tears. She knew that once this was all over, she would have plenty of time to deal with the hurricane of emotions swirling around inside of her. Before he could take his heart felt speech any further, Dee took both of his hands in hers and squeezed them tightly.

"Lee, there is something I have to tell you," she started.

She was stunned when he pressed his lips against hers in a crushing kiss. While her initial reaction was to pull away, she couldn't. It was the first time in weeks that he had shown any type of physical affection towards her and it made her feel completely confused. Her lips parted slightly in attempt to plead with him to stop, but she was silenced when his tongue darted into her mouth kissing her passionately.

"I am so glad that this happened, Dee. I believe that this is the chance we have been waiting for to start over," he said earnestly.

It was in that moment that Dee realized that she and her husband were definitely not on the same page. From the way he was acting it was as if he had no idea about her affair with Agathon. A part of her was relieved that he hadn't found out through out side sources, but another part of her was dreading the moment when she would have to come clean.

"What are you talking about?" she asked confused.

"You mean that you don't know?" he asked stunned.

When she shook her head, a huge grin spread across his lips.

"I was suppose to wait until the briefing before I said anything," he said mysteriously.

Dee eyes widened curiously.

"What is it, Lee?" she asked anxiously.

He cupped her face in his hands and smiled down at her tenderly. The next words that came out of his mouth caused her legs to give out from beneath her sending her falling into her husband's strong and awaiting arms.

With his eyes brimming with tears and a delighted smile on his lips, he said something that made everything else disappear from her mind.

"We finally did it, Dee. There is a good chance that we found Earth."


	12. Chapter 12

**An: Don't worry, there's only a few chappies left! Enjoy and Review.**

Sharon Agathon sat alone in her sleeping chambers staring outside the window of the ship that was revealing a vast darkness of space with a bleak expression on her pretty face. Gazing off into the distance, she stared longingly at the blue and green orb spinning millions of light years away and despite the fact that the planet was barely visible, Sharon saw it as a beacon of light. The sound of Hera stirring nosily in her sleep, caused Sharon to tear her gaze away from the window abruptly. Rising from the bed, she quickly walked over to the crib to check on her infant child. As she leaned down and gingerly lifted her baby daughter out of her bed and into the comfort of her arms, a tender smile slowly crept across her lips. As beautiful as the Earth was to Sharon, nothing could ever compare to the beauty of her daughter in her eyes. Humming softly she began to slowly pace across the floor in her room, gently rocking Hera in attempt to put her baby girl back to sleep. Usually whenever the baby was fussy, Karl could be the only one who could console their upset baby girl, but lately Sharon began to notice that he haven't been around as much as he use to.

As her tired daughter began to slowly drift back to the deep slumber she had emerged from seconds earlier, Sharon closed her eyes fought back tears of hurt and pain as she began to think about the past few days. Before this past week, she had thought things with her family had been perfect, but she had learned earlier that week through devastating discoveries that she had been wrong. Sharon's relationship with her husband had suddenly went from being comfortable and secure to becoming tense and filled with hostility and uncertainty. She had been confused as to what the source of the discomfort in their relationship was until she had saw an troubling exchange between her husband and Lt. Dee Adema.

A few days ago, she had just finished a shift off patrolling when she had decided to stop into the chow hall for a quick bite to eat. Walking down a long empty foyer, she had spotted Dee and Karl off the side in a dark corner engaged in a private conversation. Any other time, Sharon wouldn't have paid any mind to their conversation and would have continued on her way to the chow hall. However when she noticed her husband reach out to Dualla who stepped away from with an intense emotional reaction, she knew something was wrong. Moving cautiously, she made sure to keep out of sight as she crept closer to Karl and Dee determined to eavesdrop on their conversation. What she heard had completely broken her heart.

_*Flashback*_

_"I thought I made it perfectly clear that we should forget what happened between us and never bring it up," Dee had hissed desperately._

_"I thought I could, but Dee I can't pretend nothing happened. You and I both know that what happened between us was no mistake," he started._

_"Karl, don't," she tried._

_"Dee, please, let me finish. I need to tell you how I feel," he insisted softly._

_Sharon had watched in tears as Karl reached up and cupped the other woman's face in his hand, an obvious sign of tenderness and affection on her husband's part. As he pressed his forehead against hers, Sharon felt every urge to turn and run in the opposite direction, but she was rooted to the very spot she was standing in. She felt as if she was trapped in a nightmare, and their was no way of escape._

_"Karl, you and I both know that we can't continue with this. We should have never done it the first time," she said with a look of shame on her beautiful dark face as she pulled away from his caress, and turned to leave in the opposite direction._

_Sharon watched speechless as her husband grabbed the other woman gently with his face hovering dangerously close to hers._

_"I don't regret what happen, Dee. We both know that it was something that could no longer be avoided. I have strong feelings for you," he said firmly, "I love you."_

_Dee had snatched away from him, and the expression on her face revealed to Sharon that her husband's mistress was torn and heartbroken. A part of Sharon felt bad for Dee being caught in such a messy situation, but the bigger part of Sharon hated Dee for stabbing her in the back by having an affair with her husband._

_As she watched him walk away, Sharon knew there was thing for certain. She had lost her husband and she wasn't sure if there was anyway of getting him back..._

_*Flashback End*_

At first, she couldn't believe what she had overheard, but the longer she had watched the two interact around the ship, the more suspicious she had grown. Especially when Karl had leaned in and kissed her gently on her forehead before walking away. The expression on Dualla's face had revealed everything that Sharon had feared. Another woman was in love with her husband, and the worse part was that it was obvious that her husband was in love with the other woman as well. It had taken her hours to get over the initial shock of her discovery, but when she had she didn't know whether she should cry or if she go and tear Karl limb from limb. She felt so disgusted and betrayed that it had been hard to pretend that nothing had been wrong when Karl had come to their sleeping quarters later that night. He had acted as if everything had been normal and even had held her while they had fallen asleep. It had been hard to keep her tears hidden in the dark, but fortunately he hadn't noticed that her distress.

As she slowly came to terms with her husband's infidelity, she had struggle to deal very many different conflicting emotions. Denial, rage, hurt, sadness, self loathing...

She had thought that what she and her husband had was solid and real, but apparently she had been wrong. She knew that Karl cared for Dee, but she would have never thought that he would throw their marriage away by sleeping with the other woman, and the worse part was that Sharon actually had considered Dualla as a friend. How could they have betrayed her by having an affair? The biggest emotion she had struggled with had been anger, but that anger had quickly turned into deep sadness. She felt heartbroken that her husband had sought happiness in the arms of a woman she had believed to be her friend.

A part of her thought that maybe if he came clean to her about the affair, that maybe she would be able to forgive him, but Sharon knew that she was only fooling herself. The fact that he had cheated on her revealed to her that she didn't know her husband as well as she thought she did. The perfect little family she thought she had, was nothing more then an illusion and the fact that everything was falling apart caused tears of hurt and anger to cloud her dark eyes. The more she had watched them interact with each other, the more believable it became that something very intimate had taken place between them, and while Sharon wasn't the type of woman to try to hang on to a man who obviously didn't want to be with her, she wasn't prepared to let him go without first making him realize what he had done to her.

Starring down at her daughter, Sharon smiled tearfully as she realized that while her heart was broken, she still had the one person that she loved more then anything in the universe.

"Don't worry, darling. It's going to be just you and me, Hera. No cylons, no Agathon. Just us," she whispered sadly.

Once they arrived on Earth, Sharon was going to go her own separate way and leave everything and everyone she cared about in her past. She didn't need the Battlestar Galactica, she didn't need Agathon. She didn't need anyone.

888888

_Meanwhile Across the ship..._

Dee wandered into the dark empty hanger containing Vipers, feeling a sense of apprehension and overwhelming sadness weighing heavily on her shoulders. While everyone was running around the ship celebrating the fact that they had finally found Earth, Dee had chosen to isolate herself feeling a little reluctant to be among the throng of happy people aboard the ship. The moment that her husband had broken the exciting news to her, he had been so excited and his face and eyes had been filled with such happiness and pride, that she hadn't had a single ounce of courage to tell him about her indiscretion. Instead she had forced herself to celebrate with him while ignoring the guilt of her affair looming over her. While she didn't have any regrets about being with Karl, her conscience was constantly nagging at her and she knew that she couldn't going on with her life until she came clean to Lee about what had happened. After she confessed her adultery to her husband, she planned on telling him that she wanted them to go their separate ways. Dee knew that ending their relationship would hurt like hell, but she knew that she had to let Lee go in order for him to be content and for her to finally find happiness.

"Lee," she called out with uncertainty as she slowly made her way up the flight of steel stairs leading to the aircrafts.

"Dee."

Hearing someone call out her name softly, the lieutenant whirled around and she was stunned and slightly flustered when she came face to face with Karl Agathon. The last time she had seen him was when they had made passionate love a few weeks earlier, and while she had been intentionally avoiding him, she realized that it was time to face him and deal with the consequences of what had happened between them. Biting down softly on her bottom lip, Dee realized that there was something very important that she needed to tell him, but she didn't know how to tell him some news that could potentially change his life. She cared deeply enough about him not to keep it a secret, but she didn't want the consequences of their affair to ruin his marriage.

As she slowly closed the space between them, she couldn't help but swallow nervously as he slowly began to close the distance between them.

"We need to talk," Karl started.

Dee swallowed nervously.

"I know, and I promise that we will, but I have to find Lee first," she tried weakly.

Despite her discomfort, Dee didn't miss the look of disappointment that flashed across Karl's face.

"So I take it that you have decided to work things out with him," he said dully.

She inhaled sharply before shaking her head sadly.

"Actually, you're wrong, Karl. After we made love, I couldn't stop thinking about you and I came to an conclusion that I can't be with my husband anymore. Things aren't going to get any better, and I don't want to be unhappy anymore," she said softly.

Karl felt a surge of relief at her confession, but he could tell that there was something she wasn't telling him.

"What is it, Dee? What aren't you telling me? Are you okay?" he asked concerned.

"No. I'm afraid everything is isn't ok. Something happened that may make figure out things between us more complicated," she started quietly.

Dee had half expected Karl to demand answers, but she was surprised when he gently cupped her face in his hands and smiled down at her warmly.

"Whatever it is, we can get through it Dee. When I told you I loved you, I meant it. Neither of us are happy in our current situations, so why remain in meaningless relationships when we can be together?" he inquired softly.

Dee opened her mouth preparing to respond, but the words died on her lips when she noticed a figure emerged from the shadows behind Karl. Her eyes narrowed coldly as she watched Kara slowly make her way towards them across the bridge with a look of disgust and anger on her face. Karl slowly turned around and felt his body grow tense when he came face to face with Starbucks. He had hoped that by some stroke of luck that she hadn't heard any of the conversation that had taken place between him and Dualla, but when he spotted the look of disdain on the blonde's face, he knew that she had heard everything.

"When Sam slipped up and told me about the two of you, I had begun to think that my husband had finally lost his mind. Now that I find you two standing here, I realize that he was perfectly sane and the only fool being played here is Sharon and Lee," she said neutrally.

"Excuse me?" Karl asked evenly.

Kara smiled coldly.

"Don't play dumb, Agathon. You are not good at it. I know all about you and Dualla's little indiscretion," she said with disgust dripping in her voice.

Dee felt her temper rise, but she knew that nothing good would come from exploding on the other woman, so she struggled to remain calm.

"Kara, whatever you think you know, you should really keep it to your self. Whatever is going on between me and Agathon is none of your frakkin business," she said pointedly.

The blonde laughed rudely.

"Actually, it is. Lee is my friend and I'm not going to idly stand by and let him try to fix his marriage when his wife is frakking another man behind his back," she said hotly.

"You don't know anything about my marriage," Dee growled with deep hostility in her voice as she glared daggers at Kara Thrace.

The woman merely snorted rudely in response.

"I know much more then you think I know. I can't believe Lee was feeling devastated and guilty about being not working hard to fix your marriage when it's obvious that you could care less," she said angrily.

Dee narrowed her eyes at the other woman hatefully.

"He wouldn't have to fix our marriage if he hadn't wrecked in the first place. You should know that since you helped him do it," Dee said evenly." None of this would have ever happened if you would have backed off and allowed him to have a chance to be happy with me."

"Don't blame me for your infidelity, Dualla. We both know that I wasn't the reason why you laid on your back for Agathon and I'm definitely the reason why you are carrying an illegitimate child in your womb," Kara said coldly.

"Is she telling the truth, Dee. Are you pregnant?" Karl asked stunned.

Dee eyes burned with tears of anger as she glared coldly at the blonde. How could she have possibly know that she was pregnant? Why did Kara always have to ruin everything?

"Why don't you tell the truth and do the right thing by the father of your child? Or were you just willing to allow Adema to believe that you were carrying his child and let him play daddy?" she asked hotly.

Dee stared at the other woman stunned by her accusation.

" I am willing to bet there's a big chance that Karl is the father. I wonder how Lee is going to take knowing that his good friend and his devoted wife stabbed him in the back," she said stiffly.

"Are you frakkin' kidding me? Don't you dare speak about my child or my marriage," Dee snarled viciously.

Kara smiled coldly with her arms folded across her chest, and a dark glint in her eyes.

"The child that you're not even sure who the father is?" she asked stiffly.

Blinded by rage, the communication officer lunged forward and managed to land a nasty swipe across Kara's cheek leaving three severe scratches across the blonde's face.

"Dee, don't," Karl growled trying to come between the two ladies with great difficulty.

"I know who my baby's father is, Kara! You may have ruined my marriage, but I refuse to let you talk down about my child, you bitch," she snapped viciously as she lunged at the other woman once again.

Kara stumbled back with a bitter smile as she shrugged the injury of nonchalantly.

"Is that all you got?" she taunted condescendingly.

Dualla felt a wave of rage wash over her before lunging towards the blonde with fire and rage dancing in her eyes.

Karl stepped forward to restrain Dee when he suddenly tripped over one of the steel grate, unintentionally slamming into her. Unable to keep her balance, Dee collided with the other woman pushing her violently towards the railing before she fell forward nearly landing n her face. Dee groaned as she felt her wrist scream with pain after she had used them to break her fall, but the scream that followed caused Dee's blood to run cold.

Looking up, she watched in horror as Kara went tittering over the edge, barely latching onto the metal pole before she went over. As she watched the other woman dangle dangerously high over the main floor, Dee was frozen with fear. If Kara was to fall, then the aftermath would be very grave. Forcing herself to move, Dee struggled to her feet and began to slowly stumbled towards the end of the bridge where Kara was stuck in a dangerous position. Getting as close as she could to the edge, Dee extended her hand down to the woman dangling precariously over the hard floor waiting fifteen feet below.

"Grab my hand," she ordered frantically as she extended her fingers towards the other woman.

"Karl help me," Dee screamed as she struggled to hold onto Kara.

Kara could see the Vipor pilot making a mad dash across the bridge to come to her aid, but she knew that he wouldn't arrive in time. Her blue eyes widened in fear and horror as she felt her grip around Dee's hand began to slip. She didn't know much longer she would be able to hang on before letting go.

"Hold on, Kara. Please," Dee whispered desperately as she felt herself losing grip of the blonde.

She could hear Karl's feet slamming against the steel grate as he raced towards them, but Dee had the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that he wasn't going to make it in time to help her keep Kara from falling over board. Suddenly she released a startled gasp as she felt Kara's hand slip from hers. Her hazel eyes filled with tears widened horror as she watched the blonde let out a sheer scream of terror as she fail helplessly to ground below. Gripped by dread and fear, Dee closed her eyes and bit back a silent cry as she heard the sound of a sickening thud slam hard against the ground.

"Dee," Karl cried rushing to her side.

When she failed to answer, Karl grabbed her firmly by the shoulders and began to shake her.

"Dee," he repeated louder as he forced her to look him in the eyes.

His heart nearly broke in his chest as he saw the devastation and sorrow in her eyes.

"I couldn't hold her, Karl. I tried, but I couldn't," she wept softly.

"I know, Dee. It wasn't your fault. It was an accident. Are you going to be alright?" he asked deeply concerned.

Dee nodded tearfully.

"Yes. Go check on Thrace," she pleaded with her voice barely above a whisper as she sat against the railing trembling with her heart racing furiously in her chest.

As she watched Karl rushed down to the level below them, Dee forced herself to look over the side where Kara had fell. She felt all the blood drain from her face as she spotted the Vipor pilot's body laying sprawled in an awkward position on top of the Viper. Dee felt all the blood drain from her face as she realized that the other woman wasn't moving.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

**An: I'm sorry for the delay! Review please =)**

"I'm sorry for this, Lieutenant Dualla, but the Admiral specifically requested that you be kept here until he had the chance to personally talk to you about the incident involving you and Kara Thrace," Captain Sanders, informed quietly as he led the tearful communications officer towards her temporary holding cell.

Crossing her arms across her chest defensively, Anastasia couldn't help but feel hurt along with a little resentment as she slowly lifted her head and glared evenly at the man who had placed her under arrest. As she stared into the arresting officer's deep gray eyes filled with shock and discomfort, she quickly began to feel uneasy as he silently observed her with an unreadable expression on his face. She couldn't tell whether or not he felt that she was responsible for Kara's accident, but she knew that even if she did try to explain her side of the story, he had already formed his own opinion in his mind. It was hard to believe that just a few nights ago, the two of them had been enjoying a game of poker that was surrounded by fun and laughter, and now she was in his custody being investigated for an accident that she wished that never happen. Despite all of her best efforts to keep a brave face, she could no longer fight back the painful sob that had been building inside of her chest. Seconds later, tears poured from the corners of her eyes like a broken dam, leaving wet streaks of mascara running down Dualla's dark and lovely cheeks.

"I'm sorry, Dee. I really am," he said quietly.

She could tell by the expression on the Captain's face that he was very uncomfortable with the situation, but they both knew that despite how he felt about her personally as a friend, he had to follow his orders and perform his duty.

"You are just doing your job, Captain. I will be fine," Dee said quietly before turning her back towards him and walking deeper into her cold and unwelcoming holding space.

Sanders gave her one last sympathetic before locking the cell door securely behind her before disappearing into the next room.

Gazing around the cell blankly, Dee slowly made her way towards the cot propped against the back wall and gingerly lowered herself onto the couch inhaling sharply as she struggled to keep from bursting into tears. While a part of her felt completely humiliated over the fact that she had been publicly arrested for something she knew was an accident, a bigger part of her was more concerned and devastated over Kara Thrace's serious medical condition. Choking back a sob that was threatening to escape her lips, she tried to push what had happened to the back of her mind, but the incident kept replaying in her mind like a bad movie. She knew that no matter how hard she tried, she would never be able to get the sound of Kara's horrific scream before she had went sailing over the railing. It had never been her intention to cause the other woman any harm, but Dee was painfully aware of the fact that intentional or not, it was ultimately her fault that the blond Viper pilot was lying unconscious in the infirmary, fighting for her life.

Dee was slowly starting to become lost deep in thought when the sound of a disturbance coming from the room next door snapped her back to reality.

"Where is she? I want to talk to her now!" a loud masculine voice thundered.

Rising from her cot anxiously, Dee's eyes widened as the door to her holding cell open. Moments later she felt her breath catch in her throat when Karl stormed in with anger and concern written all across his handsome face. Their eyes met and while she was happy and relieved to see him, she knew that just his mere presence there could jeopardize his job due to the fact that he was openly disobeying the Admiral's orders. The Captain was opening his mouth to address her, but before the words could leave his lips, Lt. Sanders rushed into the room with an apologetic and nervous look on his face.

"Sir, I'm sorry. I know that you wish to talk to the Lieutenant, but I have my orders. No one is allowed access to her until she is debriefed by the Admiral. Not even you," Captain Sanders informed quietly.

Karl whirled around and glared at the guard evenly. Even though the he understood that the Captain was trying to do his job, he wasn't about to let anything or anyone stand between him seeing Dee. He didn't care who he pissed off and what consequences his actions would have on his career. All he knew was that he wasn't going to walk away until he had the chance to talk to Dualla and make sure that she was ok.

"Listen, Sanders, you and I both know that she doesn't belong behind bars. She isn't an criminal," he snapped.

"I don't know what you expect me to say, Captain. I have more orders," Sanders tried.

"Listen to me, Lieutenant. Forget your orders for five minutes. That little time is all I'm asking for. Please, just give me some time alone with her," Karl insisted desperately.

The guard looked as if he was about to say no, when he saw the determined look on the Captain's face. Realizing that it would be difficult arguing the other man down, he reluctantly decided to give in.

"Just five minutes," he said sternly before walking out of the holding cell leaving the two alone.

Karl didn't waste any time scooping Dee into his arms and holding her protectively his chest. He felt his heart tighten in his chest as he noticed that she was shaking like a leaf. He could tell that she was deeply upset, and he couldn't blame her. If he had his way, then he wouldn't be locked up. He had saw first hand that what had transpired between Kara and Dee had been nothing more then a tragic accident. The fact that the Admiral had Dee detained infuriated Karl, but he had swallowed his anger in order to focus on the well being of his close friend and lover.

"How are you doing? Are you okay?" he asked worried as he cupped her tear stained face in his hands.

Dee smiled faintly and nodded.

"I'm fine, but Sanders is right. You shouldn't be here," she said quietly with an uneasy look on her face, "It would be in both of our best interest if you left immediately."

Karl stared at her trying to hide the hurt and the anger her statement had invoked inside of him.

"I don't understand," he said confused.

Dee inhaled nervously as she avoided making eye contact with him. Turning her back towards him, she walked over to the other side of the cell with her arms folded across her chest. Subconsciously, she placed her hand on her stomach and felt tears fall from the corner of her eyes. Dealing with Kara's accident was hard enough, but having Karl present and near her during such an difficult time was taking an emotional toll on her. Swallowing back her tears, she turned around slowly, and as she faced him, she was unable to look him directly in the eyes.

"I think its obvious, Karl. It's too dangerous for us to be seen together. You and I both know that scuttlebutt travels fast. People are going to talk. Not only did we have an affair, but I am carrying your child and she knew about it. The truth will come out," she protested desperately.

Karl could see the intense look of despair on Dee's face and in that moment, he felt completely helplessly. He could see that Dee was in a lot of emotional pain, and the fact that their was nothing he could do to take that pain, frustrated him. Despite her obvious fear and anxiety, he was determined to show her that he was willing to stand by her side, no matter what the consequences were.

"I don't care about the rumor mill, Dee. Who gives a frak about what they think? We both know that what happened was an accident," he said gently.

Dee sighed heavily. As much as she appreciated Karl's willingness to stand beside her, she knew that it was a bad idea.

"You don't understand. Nobody is going to see what happen to Kara as being an 'accident'. They are going to think that I caused her accident intentionally," she said hoarsely.

Karl's eyes widened startled.

"That's not true, Dee," he tried.

Dee laughed bitterly feeling tears burning the corners of her eyes.

"If it wasn't true, then why am I here?" she whispered tearfully.

"It doesn't matter how they see it, Dualla. All we have to do is to tell the truth," he said gently.

Dee laughed bitterly.

"Don't you get it? It doesn't matter what the truth is! Everyone is going to see me as a bitter wife who was at the end of her rope that snapped and attempted to kill Kara Thrace. I'm having a hard time convincing myself that it didn't happen that way," she said covering her mouth as she choked back a sob.

Karl stared at her in disbelief. He couldn't believe what he was were hearing. He knew Dee well enough to know that she wouldn't and couldn't hurt anyone intentionally which is why he didn't understand why was insisting that she might be responsible for what happened to Kara. The Captain personally witnessed the violent confrontation between the two women, and while he felt that the situation could have been handled in a more appropriate way, he knew that what had happened to Kara was nothing more then a very tragic accident. He had seen how Dee had desperately tried her best to save Kara from sailing over the railing. What happened to the blonde Vipor pilot had been unfortunate, but he knew that it wasn't Dee's fault.

Taking her shaking hands inside of his own, Karl stared down at her with fierce intensity in his deep blue eyes.

"Listen to me, Dee. No one in their right mind is going to think you did this intentionally," he said firmly, "I won't let them".

Dee stared back at him tearfully as her bottom lip trembled dangerously.

"When Kara comes out of her coma she will expose the fact that I'm pregnant with your child. If you put that little secret along with the accident together, everyone is going to think I had a motive to harm Kara," she said sounding distressed.

Karl felt his heart beat quicken as Dee's statement reminded him of the confession she had made earlier before her confrontation with Kara. The fact Dee was pregnant with his child caused several different emotions to surge through him. As he brooded quietly, he could admit that among these emotions were, surprise, shock, confusion, anxiety, but the strongest emotion of all was...happiness. The fact that he was about to be a father to the child of the woman that he loved with all of his heart made a proud smile stretch across his lips. Even though he knew that the time and their current situation wasn't ideal, Karl knew that he didn't regret fathering Dee's child. He couldn't. He was hopelessly in love with her, and he was prepared to show her how committed he was to sticking by her side, and sacrificing everything he had to be with her.

"What is it? Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked quietly as she diverted her gaze away from his handsome face nervously.

Karl flushed deeply.

"Knowing that you're pregnant with my child, there's this feeling that comes over me that I can't quite explain," he murmured.

Dee inhaled sharply before bowing her head feeling a mixture of shame and guilt. She knew that carrying Karl's baby was unexpected, but it could very possibly threatened to destroy both of their lives. Squeezing her eyes shut tightly, she silently cursed herself for being reckless. If she had taken the proper precautions, she could have avoided this whole situation all together. Moments later, she opened her eyes and flashed a sad smile at Karl while tears welled up in her hazel eyes.

"You have to know that I never meant for any of this happen," she said softly, "I'm so sorry."

"I'm not," he said abruptly taking her completely by surprise.

Starring up into his handsome face, she had expected to find anger, but all she saw was understanding and sincerity etched into his handsome face.

"What?" she stammered startled.

Karl smiled tenderly.

"I know that the timing and the situation is complicated and less then ideal, but I know that we can raise this baby together," he said huskily.

Dee stared at Karl in utter and complete disbelief.

"Are you out of your frakkin' mind? What you are saying is impossible. There is no way that we can raise our baby together. I am married and you already have a family," Dee tried.

Karl placed a finger gently over her lips effectively silencing her before he smiled down at her lovingly.

"We both know that neither of us are happy in our current situation. You have to know that I will always be in Hera's life and will always be the best father I can be to her. I just want to be the best lover I can be to you. We should be together, and I know you feel the same way I do. You're just scared and you don't have to be," he assured gently, "I promise."

As he reached down and tucked a loose strand of her dark hair behind her left ear, Dee stared into his beautiful eyes and saw nothing but compassion and kindness. Hearing the sincerity in her lover's voice, the communication's officer felt her heart flutter furiously in her chest. In that moment, she realized just how deeply Karl cared for her, and she instantly felt if her breath had just been stolen away. While she knew that things between her and Karl were complicated, she knew the feelings between them were strong and undeniable. Dee could tell that he wanted her just as much as she wanted him. Both of their desire danced delicately on the border of obsession and physically, sexually, and emotionally charge surging between them. Holding his gaze steadily, she could tell that he was having a hard time trying not to kiss her, and despite her having the same intense desire, she knew that it was neither the time nor the place. While she was struggling to find the words and will power to resist Karl's tempting lips, the door to the holding cell suddenly opened and Captain Sanders walked in.

Almost immediately, Dee stepped back from Karl blushing hotly feeling like she had been caught doing something she didn't have any business doing. While the look on Sander's face showed that he had witnessed more then he cared to, he didn't say anything about it. Instead, he cleared his throat softly before turning his attention towards Karl.

"I'm sorry, but it's been five minutes. I think it's time you leave, Captain," he said stiffly.

"Just give me one more minute," Karl tried.

"Sir, I mean no disrespect, but I'm afraid if you don't leave, I will have no other choice then to place you under arrest," Sanders warned awkwardly.

Karl was preparing to protest vehemently when Dee stopped him with a calming smile.

"I appreciate you standing by me, but it would be in both of our best if you just leave. There is no sense in you making trouble for yourself," she said gently..

Karl smiled reassuringly.

"Don't worry about me, Dee. The worse they can do is arrest and demote me. I can handle that," he promised.

Dee stared at him stunned.

"Why would you put your career and freedom in jeopardy?" she asked confused.

He stared deeply into her light hazel eyes with a warm smile stretched across his lips.

"I would risk any and everything for you ," he promised quietly, not caring that Captain Sanders was listening to everything he was saying.

Dee blushed deeply.

While she wanted nothing more then for him to be at her side, she knew that it would be in both of their best interest if he left while he still had the chance.

"I appreciate that, Karl. I really do, but you really should leave. If you don't do it for yourself, then at least...do it for me," she pleaded with him softly, ignoring the intense pang in her chest.

Karl wanted to protest, but the look on Dee's face told him that he would only be making things worse, so reluctantly he decided to give in.

"I will come back for you," he promised firmly, before allowing himself to be escorted out of the room by the Captain.

As Dee stared after him sadly, she knew that the road ahead of them would be anything but easy, Dee felt comforted by the fact that Karl was determined to be by her side every step of the way. Brushing the stray tears that had fallen from the corners of her eyes, she sat back down on her cot and slowly became lost in the darkest corners of her mind.


	14. Chapter 14

**_AN: Please Review :)_**

_I can't believe this is happening…_

Lee paced nervously outside of the operating room where Dr. Coddle and several nurses were working intensely to save Kara Thrace's life. When he had first learned about her accident, he had immediately dropped everything he had been doing before bolting as fast as he could to the infirmary, determined to be by her side. The very moment he had burst through the doors, he had struggled to control his emotions when he had first viewed the full extent of Kara's injuries. She had been lying motionless on a stretcher with her short blonde hair fanned wildly behind her head and she wore a lifeless expression on her face. Blood had been trickling out of her mouth and nose and her pale skin had appeared to be cold and gray. Closing his eyes slowly, Lee bowed his head before silently pleading with the gods to allow Kara to open her beautiful pale green eyes so that she could tell him that everything was going to be alright. Despite his heartfelt prayer, Lee knew that he had to face reality and acknowledge that the chances of the blonde Vipor pilot ever gaining consciousness again was slim to none.

Before the doctor had started the operation, Lee had been warned that Kara's injuries were very serious and life threatening, and that he should brace himself in case things took a very possible turn for the worst. After the doctor's warning, the last conversation Lee had with Kara the day before has slowly began to surface and replay in his head.

_"Was there ever a time you hoped that there would be a chance for you and I to be more the Starbucks and Apollo? Haven't you ever wished that we could be Kara and Lee?"_

When Lee had walked away from Kara that day, he had closed the door on all the possibilities of what could and should have been, and he had been determined to work things out with his wife. Even though he knew that they would never be anything more then just good friends, there wasn't anything in the universe that Lee wasn't willing to do for Kara. Closing his eyes, he realized that he couldn't begin to imagine what his life would be like if he lost her. Dealing with his brother's death had been excruciating and painful enough, but Lee knew for a fact that Kara's death would completely destroy him. She had always played a major role in his life, but Lee didn't realize just how much he cared about her until that very moment.

Before Lee could think any further on the matter, he was jerked back to the present by the sound of the operating room's door opening. Rising to his feet, he watched anxiously as the doctor stepped into the waiting area with a weary look on his aged face. Almost immediately, Lee felt his heart slowly plummet into the pit of his stomach. Something was wrong. He could feel it. Swallowing anxiously, he looked up and faced the ship's physician with a grave look on the surface of his blue eyes.

"How is she doing, doctor?" Lee asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

The doctor sighed before looking up from his medical charts with a ghost of a smile on his lips.

"Kara is one tough cookie. It's a miracle that she survived the fall, and she pulled through the surgery without any complications. Her vitals are stable and we manage to decrease the swelling in her brain to prevent hemorrhaging. From all of her injuries, I have to tell you that she is very fortunate to not have broken her neck from the impact of the fall. Right now, Thrace is resting peacefully and I expect that she won't gain consciousness at least for another several hours. I have done all that I can for Kara, and now we must wait. The next twenty four hours are critical," he informed solemnly.

Despite being overwhelmed and consumed with the severity of Kara's injuries, Dr. Coddle hadn't forgotten that there had been another woman involved in the incident. One who's medical condition was also a cause of great concern to him. Turning away from the window overlooking the recovery room, he faced Lee once more.

"How's Dualla doing?" he asked gruffly.

Lee sighed heavily and shook his head.

"From what I heard, she wasn't injured during the incident, thank gods," he said softly, "I don't know what I would have done if she had been hurt as well."

Dr. Coddle frowned confused.

"What do you mean, you heard? Where is she?" he asked startled.

"My father had her detained. He wanted to speak to her about the accident personally," he informed softly.

The doctor's eyes widened in surprise.

"Detained? For what?" he demanded, his aging face filled with confusion.

Lee narrowed his eyes defensively as he crossed his arms across his chest.

"You know the protocols. Every accident has to be investigated aboard this ship, and this incident is no exception," he replied stiffly.

The doctor stared at the Major stunned and slightly angry.

"Don't you think there ought to be an exception in this case? Anastasia shouldn't be treated as a suspect, she should be treated like your wife. What is there to investigate? Dee was only there when the accident happened. It's absurd to think that she may have been involved in any kind of way," Coddle protested.

Judging from Lee's callous and bitter attitude, it was more then obvious to Coddle that the young major wasn't aware of his wife's current condition or else he would have been far more concerned about her being detained. The doctor also suspected that there was some unspoken reason as to why Lee had chosen to rush to the side of Kara, instead of fulfilling his husbandly duties and being with his wife who was, in his opinion, wrongly incarcerated. Even though he made it a personal policy to keep his nose out of other people's personal affair and to mind his own business, deep down he couldn't ignore the feeling that there was something very wrong with the situation he was playing out in front of him. While Coddle knew he had a duty to respect patient doctor confidentiality, he also realized he had an obligation to protect his patients, and that included the unborn ones as well.

"Why are you suddenly so concerned about my wife, doctor?" Lee asked feeling slightly annoyed.

"I am just concerned about her health. Given her delicate condition, I wanted to make sure that she was ok. I can only imagine how stress she must be feeling after this whole ideal, and in her current condition, too much stress could be dangerous," he warned quietly.

"What delicate condition?" Lee asked confused.

Realizing that there was no other way around the truth, The doctor sighed before deciding to come clean.

"Sir, I'm pleased to tell you are going to be a father. Dualla is two weeks pregnant," he informed with a smile.

Those six words caused Lee's eyes widened and his mouth to drop open in shock. He was so stunned that he was left completely speechless. He couldn't believe his ears. Dee was pregnant and he was going to be a father! His first initial reaction was joy. He couldn't believe that he was finally going to have a family of his own. He realized that finding Earth and Dee becoming pregnant was a sign that he was meant to save his marriage. Now that his wife was preparing to give him his first child, he was more then ready to put all the pain and hurt of his friendship with Kara behind him, and start over fresh. He was thinking about whether he would have a son or daughter when he suddenly began to feel guilty over his excitement. While he was ecstatic over the fact that Anastasia was finally about to be the mother of his firstborn child, his mood was slightly dampened as he wished that Kara was conscious and well to share in the good news with him.

"When did she find out?" he asked when he had managed to find his voice again.

"Just this morning. She came in complaining of being fatigue and nausea thought she may have had contracted a stomach virus. Instead, she's just been eating for two," the doctor said amused.

"That's why I think it's important that Dee be released. She needs to be examined to make sure that her stress hasn't caused any problems with the baby. With your permission, Major, I would like to put in a request to the Admiral to see her as soon as possible," he requested.

Lee nodded quickly.

"Go ahead, doctor," he murmured before watching the doctor disappear back into his office leaving him alone in the observation room.

Before he could wrap his mind around the stunning news he had just received about his wife, he heard footsteps approaching and looking up, he tensed slightly when he noticed Sam Anders, Kara Thrace's husband heading in his direction.

"Sam," Lee started as he stared sadly at the other man, "I'm very sorry for what happened to Kara."

Sam stared at the other man unable to hide the contempt and disgust that he felt for the infamous Apollo. When he had first approached the infirmary, he had been desperate to see his wife and find out more about her condition, but when he saw Lee, his immediate grief instantly turned into red hot anger.

It wasn't bad enough that his wife was in the infirmary fighting for her life, but the fact that Lee was by her side when it wasn't his place made him absolutely infuriated. It was more then clear that the Major had problems with boundaries, but this time he went too far. Kara was his wife, not Lee's and Sam felt that not only did the other man have no right being there, but he was completely disrespected and insulted by the other man's presence.

"I would ask what the hell are you doing here, but I guess I really shouldn't be too surprised. After all, it's not like you have a wife of your own to be concerned over," Sam said coolly.

Lee could tell that Sam was less then pleased to see him, and while he felt as if he had ever right to be at Kara's side, he was going to try his best to avoid a confrontation with Anders.

"I'm not here to cause any trouble. I because of my genuine concern for Kara. Nothing more, nothing less," he assured quietly.

The expression on Sam's face showed that he didn't believe any of the words that had just came out of Lee's mouth, and deep down the Major knew that he couldn't blame Sam. With all of the drama and tension that bad been building between them for the past few weeks, it came as no surprise that Sam would harbor and show hostility toward the man who had made unintentionally complications inside of his marriage.

"What about your concern for Dualla?" he asked abruptly, "Or do you even care?"

"Excuse me?" Lee demanded narrowing his eyes evenly.

"Your wife is being held under arrest pending an investigation into the accident and instead of being there with her, you are here with my wife," Sam pointed out coldly.

Lee felt his eyes narrow in annoyance as Sam's words struck a nerve. While he could understand how his actions regarding his wife could be seen as cold and uncaring, the truth was that he had been so concerned with Kara, he didn't have a chance to think about Dee. On some level, he realized that was very wrong, but with everything going on, he didn't have time to think about it.

"I know that I should have probably have gone to see Dee, but when I learned that Kara had been seriously injured, I had to see whether or not she was okay," he said defensively.

Sam shook his head and surprised Lee when he laughed bitterly.

"The irony of it all that why you are down here looking after my wife, another man is looking after of yours," he said with a dark smile on his lips.

Lee tensed, but he knew that the other man was only lashing out at him because of his grief, and despite Lee not appreciating what Sam was so blatantly insinuating, he decided to be the bigger man, and let it go.

"I can see that this a very difficult time for you, and I understand. I will give you your privacy to be alone with Kara," Lee mumbled before turning to walk away.

Sam turned away from the window that looked into the room where Kara was lying unconscious, and glowered at Lee with disdain and quiet raged dancing across the surface of his blue eyes.

"Well that's the first honorable thing you have done in a long time, Adema. I was beginning to think that you didn't know what it meant respect a marriage," he said harshly.

His cold insult caused Lee to stop dead in his tracks.

Lee could see that whatever Sam was angry and bitter over, it had something to do with Lee's relationship with Kara. While Lee had closed the door on a possibility of a relationship with the blonde days earlier, he could see that Anders thought it was still opened. He opened his mouth to attempt to clarify the situation, but Sam cut him off rudely.

"You think that you are such a man of honor and integrity, don't you Adeama? You walk around this ship like you are the golden boy for truth and the protector of all things innocent, but everyone knows that you don't practice what you preach," he sad hotly.

"We both know that this isn't the time or place to hash out whatever tension is between you and me, but if you have something to say to me, you should say it if will make you feel better," Lee said curtly.

Sam smirked and moved closer to Lee with a cold look in his eyes.

"This may come as a shock to you, but Kara tells me a lot more then you think. I know about the conversation the two of you had yesterday. You know, the one when you asked her if she thought that if the two of you actually had a future together," he said hotly.

The fact that Karl knew about the conversation between himself and Kara completely took Lee by surprise.

"I was just trying to do the right thing," Lee said weakly.

Sam scoffed rudely.

The right thing would have been for you to have that conversation with Dee, and not my wife," he snapped angrily.

Lee sighed heavily. The conversation was taking a turn for the worse, and as bad as wanted to avoid an confrontation with the other man, he knew that it was inevitable.

"Kara and I both needed to talk about what was needed to be done in order to save both of our marriages," Lee stammered.

"The solution isn't all that complicated. Kara should have told you to stay out of our marriage a long time ago, but she finally admitted that she was confused about the unspoken feelings between the two of you. The day you decided that your marriage was worth working out, I decided that I wanted a divorce," he informed stiffly.

Sam's admission caused shockwaves to wash over Lee, and he felt his eyes widened in disbelief.

"What?" he asked stunned, "Why?"

"Believe it or not, Adema, some of us aren't okay with playing second best. Kara was more concerned with saving your marriage, then she was with saving her own. What I find ironic and somewhat amusing is that why are here looking after my wife, another man is looking after yours," he said slyly.

Sam's blithe statement caught Lee completely off guard and it immediately struck a nerve. He realized what Sam was hinting at and he didn't like it.

"What do you mean another man is looking after my wife? Contrary to the rumors, my wife is not running around on me behind my back. We are expecting our first child. She wouldn't do that," he growled.

Lee's explosive statement was quickly followed by a long moment of tense silence. An variety of emotions flashed across Sam Ander's face, but the strongest of those emotions was surprise and disbelief.

"Wow, Dee's pregnant? I guess congratulations is an order to you or to whoever the father may be," he sneered maliciously.

"You watch your frakkin mouth, Sam. That's my wife you are talking about," Lee hissed infuriated.

Sam smiled wickedly appearing unfazed by Lee's rage.

"I genuinely like Dee as a person. Truth be told, if Karl hadn't stepped up to the plate when he did, I would have definitely showed that wife of yours what it feels like to be with a real man," he with a twisted grin on his face.

Unable to take anymore of Sam's vicious verbal attacks, Lee lunged at him and shoved him against the wall cocking his fist back angrily. He had every intentions on striking the other man when he felt someone grab him roughly from behind, before shoving him several feet away from Sam. Lee narrowed his eyes feeling frustrated as he glared at Dr. Coddle who had intervened.

"Break it up, you two," the doctor growled menacingly, "If you two want to trade blows, take it away from my infirmary."

Sam smirked staring at evenly at Lee.

"You're not worth it. Kara needs me at her side, not you. I'm fully ware that I may lose my wife to this senseless tragedy, but you already lost your wife to another man. A man who actually deserves Dee, and will do right by her. Someday later on your life, you will look back on this moment and realize that you made a terrible mistake losing her, but by then it will be too late. For the record, I don't think you ever deserved her," he said quietly with anger shadowing his handsome face before he turned his back towards Lee, and headed into the Recovery room to sit at his wife's bedside.

Still seething from their conversation, Lee watched through the observation room window as Sam pulled up a chair next to Kara's bed. Despite the fact that Sam was wanting a divorce from her, Lee could tell that Sam truly loved Kara, and the pain and heartbreak on his face showed that Sam still cared a great deal about her. Not wanting to watch the scene anymore, he turned a way from the window and closed his eyes before inhaling sharply. Even though the confrontation between him and Sam had ended abruptly, Lee still was bothered by the accusations that the other man had made. He never suspected that the baby couldn't be his, but now that he was considering the possibility, he felt flustered and sick to his stomach. If Dee had in fact cheated on him, it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who she had shared a bed with .He knew that if Sam had been telling the truth, Lee knew that he would never forgive her, and their marriage would be destroyed. As he stormed out of the infirmary, Lee only had one thing on his mind. He didn't care how he had to do it, but he was determined to get answers he was looking for from his wife, one way... or another.


	15. Chapter 15

Catalyst

Anastasia Dualla was laying face down across her cot attempting to get some sleep when her ears detected the sound of her cell door opening. Sitting up abruptly, the raven haired beauty felt her heart plummet into the pit of her stomach as her husband quietly made his way into the room. Her pulse quicken as Lee slowly advanced towards her without uttering a single word. As he lowered himself into a sitting position on the edge of the cot, she could tell from his body language that he was not only tense, but extremely emotional as well. It was obvious by the twisted and pained look on Lee's handsome face that he was taking what happen to Kara Thrace pretty hard. While a small part of Dee understood the mixture of the emotions he was going through, a bigger part of her resented him for the raw emotions he was showing towards another woman. She couldn't understand how he could claim to love her yet his heart constantly longed for someone else.

"We need to talk," he said quietly as he moved closer to her.

Dualla shifted nervously before inhaling sharply and rising from the cot. Sensing an impending confrontation, she walked across the cell and placed a considerable amount of distance between her and the Major. Starring at the unreadable expression on Lee's handsome face, her gut instinct told her that he didn't come to the prison because he was concerned about her well being. His beautiful deep blue eyes that once reflected love and compassion for her now held suspicion and anger. While a small part of her had been hurt that he hadn't come to see her sooner, a bigger part of her didn't care. After Karl's visit, she realized that Agathon truly saw her as his top priority and the love that he was offering her was something she had always wanted and longed for. After he had promised to come back for her, she realized the life she had once known was over and while she was scared to death of what that meant, she was ready to move forward with her life.

"Lee, listen to me. I know that things may seem pretty confusing to you now, but if you give me a chance, I can explain," she started quietly.

He stared at her coldly with his arms folded across his chest.

"There's nothing to explain, Dee," he asked evenly, "It's because of your bitterness and jealousy that Kara is down in the infirmary fighting for her life!"

Dee stared at him startled and deeply hurt.

Despite the fact that she was scared and helplessly trapped behind bars, Lee was obviously more concerned with Starbucks then he was with the very woman he had made vows to. Looking into his cold blue eyes, she could tell that any sympathy and compassion that he had inside of him had been directed away from her and towards the blonde laying unconscious down in the infirmary. Frowning bitterly, she couldn't help but feel a mixture of bitterness and disgust for her soon to be ex husband. She knew that Lee was angry about what happened to Kara, but she never thought he would directly accuse her of intentionally wanting to hurt the other woman.

"Despite what you may think, I didn't hurt Kara Thrace on purpose," she said defensively, "Just what kind of person do you think that I am anyways?"

He stared at her in disbelief.

Glaring at her he knew that if he wanted to get to the truth about Saam's allegations, it was now or never. Moving closer to her, he stared down at her coldly.

"You want to know what kind of person I think that you are?" he asked bluntly,"I think you are the kind of person who had an affair with a married man and was careless enough to get pregnant."

Dee's eyes filled with tears as her hand flew to her mouth as she struggled to choke back a sob. She knew that there was a possibility that he had learned of her affair with Agathon, but she was completely shocked that he knew that she was expecting. The only people who had known she was pregnant had been Dr. Cottle, Kara and Agathon. She knew Kara couldn't have possibly said anything and Karl cared about her too much to reveal her condition which only left one person responsible. Dee felt a mixture of anger and betrayal as tears began to slowly trickle down here quivering cheeks. The world she had come to know and love was quickly falling apart and she was helpless to do anything about it. Not only was her marriage coming to a very horrible ending, but she was carrying the child of a married man and she had no idea of how everything would play out.

Watching his wife's reaction, Lee felt sick to his stomach. Deep down he had hoped that Sam Anders allegations had been false, but judging by the guilty look on Dee's face, he knew that they were in fact true. For a moment he felt like he couldn't breathe. The betrayal he was facing was almost too much for him to bear and unable to look at her any longer, he turned his back towards his wife. Trembling violently, he closed his eyes trying to fight back his tears of pain and rage. He had so desperately wanted to believe that no matter how bad their marriage got, she wouldn't step out on their marriage. Closing his eyes, he felt his anger and jealousy mount as he thought of all the ways she might have given her body to Agathon. The more he thought it the more furious became, and unable to contain his emotions he whirled back around facing his wife seething.

Without any warning, Lee Adema rose from the cot and Dee yelped startled as he grabbed her by the throat before shoving her down on the cot. As she struggled to fight him off, he straddled her and held her down firmly with pure rage flashing across his face.

"Lee, what the frak are you doing," she gasped in terror as she struggled to fight her husband off of her,"Get off of me!"

He ignored her pleas and released her throat before moving his hands to her wrist squeezing them tightly causing her to cry out softly in pain.

"How did he frakk you, Dee?" he whispered harshly, "Were you on your back like this, or were you laying face down like we know that you like it?"

Her light hazel green eyes filled with tears and fear as she stared up at her raging husband looming over her. She had never seen him this enraged and while a part of her was frightened, a bigger part of her was angry. Very angry.

"How me and my lover frakked, is none of your business. All you need to know is that it was the best I ever had," she spat viciously.

Seeing how she wasn't the least bit repentant about her actions, Lee instantly became very agitated. Overcome with feelings of bitterness and jealousy, he grabbed a handful of her hair and yanked her head back causing her to whimper softly. Before she could protest, he slammed his mouth against hers, kissing her violently. Dee's first reaction was shock, but it was quickly followed by confusion. His bruising kiss caused a moment of pleasure to dance down her spine. His tongue swept across her lips and he moaned softly as he released her hair before capturing her face in the palms of his hands. He pulled back briefly and Dee blinked startled as she felt several drops of tears made their way down her cheeks. It took here a few seconds to realize that the tears wasn't hers. They were his.

As she slowly submitted to his caresses, Lee's kisses became less violent and more gentle. For a moment she saw a glimpse of the man she had married. The man who had once been kind, compassionate, gentle and considerate. As she fervently returned his kiss, she realized in that moment that they both were desperately trying to cling to something that no longer existed. Suddenly tears slipped out the corner of her eyes, mingling with the ones Lee had shed earlier. Trembling, she felt a sense of nostalgia as he held her tightly and kissed her passionately. Moments later he pulled away and pressed his forehead against hers sighing deeply. Flustered, Dee realized the atmosphere was quickly becoming intense and before things had the chance to get out of hand, she pulled away from him abruptly.

"Lee, we have to stop this," she mumbled breathlessly as she stared up at him with a wild look in her eyes,"This is madness."

Seeing the apprehension and the confusion in his wife's eyes, Lee immediately released her. Starring down at her beautiful face streaked with tears, he felt a sense of horror overcome him. He unmounted her quickly and stumbled away from the cot feeling a wave of numbness wash over him.

"I...I'm sorry," he whispered mortified, "I don't know what came over me."

Dee climbed off the cot and slowly made her way over to him at beautiful face darkened with bewilderment.

"I don't know what you want from me anymore, Lee. First you come here to throw my affair with Agathon in my face, and then you kiss me the same way you kissed me the very first time before you admitted having feelings for me. I don't understand," she cried frustrated, "What do you want from me?"

Lee stared at her numbly. As he glared at her he couldn't help but feel overwhelmed with deep sadness.

"What I want is to know how could you do this to me," he whispered hoarsely,"How can you do this to us?"

Dee swallowed uncomfortably as she struggled to choke back a sob. Her eyes were filled with remorse and bitterness as she forced herself to look up at him. She could see the intense pain etched in his handsome face, and while she felt horrible for deeply hurting her husband, she knew that she couldn't take back what she done.

"I made my mistakes, Lee. I admitted as much, but you aren't exactly innocent in all of this, Lee," she whispered bitterly.

He scoffed rudely.

"So you stepping out of our marriage is my fault?" he growled in disgust.

Dee shook her head causing tears to dance down her cheeks mingling with the tears he had left on her cheek earlier.

"You and I both know that I never claim to be an angel but none of this would have ever happened if you would have loved me half as much as I loved you," she hissed emotionally.

Lee stared at his wife feeling completely stunned. He knew that their relationship was far from perfect, but he couldn't believe she had doubted his feelings for her.

"Is that what you think? That I didn't love you? Despite everything that has happened I still do love you. If I didn't, I wouldn't be down here trying to give our marriage one last shot," he growled darkly.

His words tugged at Dee's heart and for a moment, she allowed herself to believe that he was being sincere. His eyes showed that he had some amount of love for her and while she knew that he cared to some level, her heart wasn't convinced that he cared enough. Even if he was genuine about wanting their marriage to work, it was far too late for that.

"If you loved me, you would have put aside your feelings for Kara aside and our marriage wouldn't need a second chance," she said coldly.

Dee's words echoed like an ugly but yet loud truth in Lee's ears. He knew that her affair with Agathon wouldn't have happened if he would have been a fully devoted husband to his wife. Deep down he felt responsible for driving her into the arms of another man, but his pride wouldn't let him acknowledge that out loud.

"I admit that I was wrong how I disregarded you and our marriage, and I should have distance myself from Kara, but instead of doing the respectable thing and telling me that our marriage is over, you decide to get your revenge by sleeping with another man," he said evenly.

Dee recoiled physically, his harsh statement hitting her like a swift punch in the gut. Even though her first instinct was to lash out back at him, she knew that having a verbal confrontation with him wasn't worth it. Even though she had shared an intimate moment with her husband earlier, deep down she knew that it didn't mean a damn thing to either one of them. If she was to be completely honest with herself, she could admit that she was extremely exhausted emotionally and she was tired of fighting. Dualla realized that the moment they had shared earlier had been nothing more than a spark of the chemistry between them. Biting her bottom lip softly, she knew that the time had come for her to finally put an end to her marriage. She knew that what she was about to tell Lee wasn't going to be easy for him to hear, but he deserved to know the truth.

"Listen, Lee. I understand that you are hurt by my actions and I will understand if you hate me for what I've done. When Karl and I slept together, it was never about getting back at you. Despite what you may think or feel about him, Karl Agathon loves me and I love him. For the first time since I can remember, I am truly happy and I'll be damned if I let you or anyone else take that away from me," she said firmly with fire dancing in her hazel green eyes wet with tears.

Lee opened his mouth to reply, but when he saw the sincerity on his beautiful's wifes face, the words died on his lips. He knew that from that moment there wasn't anything he could say that would make any difference to her. Their marriage was done and over. He realized that as he sadly stared at her midsection. Secretly, he had always wanted a child, but he knew that would never happen with Dee. She was going to have a family with Karl Agathon and there wasn't anything he could do to change that. The fact that she had just openly admitted to loving her lover made Lee want to explode with jealousy and anger, but he knew that he couldn't afford to let his emotions get the best of him.

Before he had the chance to say another word, the guard walked into the cell with an apolologetic look on his face.

"Major," he started.

Lee whirled around and faced the guard with annoyance flashing across his face.

"Give us a minute, Captain," Lee ordered gruffly.

Captain Sanders sighed uncomfortably.

"I don't mean to interrupt, but there is something that you need to know," he said softly, "It's urgent."

"What is it?" Lee demanded impatiently.

Before the nervous guard had the chance to speak, Admiral Adamea stormed into the room and judging by the look on his face, he was unhappy. Very unhappy.

"Just what the hell do you think you are doing here, Lee?" he demanded causing both Dee and Lee to fall silent.

Dualla swallowed uncomfortably as she watched the angry commander stormed into the small cell. The furious expression on his weary face showed that Lee going against his orders was not sitting too well with him. Glancing at her husband, she felt a twinge of sympathy as she noticed a mixture of fear and guilt flashing across his face. Even though she wanted to step in and defend him from the wrath of his father, she knew that there wasn't anything that she could say to prevent the tongue lashing awaiting him, so she decided to do what was in both of their best interest and stand aside silently.

Lee cleared his throat and faced his father with a steely look in his blue eyes.

"I know that you gave specific orders for no one to come near Dee until you had the chance to question her, but something very urgent came up," he tried explaining.

One cold glare from his father made him fall silent immediately.

"Damnit, Lee. I don't care what came up. You should have ran it by me. I'm not speaking to you as your father. I am talking to you as your Commander. " he said angrily, "You defied my orders."

"She is my wife," Lee protested, "I think I had a right to see her."

Admiral's face darkened in anger.

"You had no right," William Adema exploded furious,"She is a solider first who is under my command. You openly disobeyed a direct order. Just because you are my son does not mean that you are above my orders."

Lee frowned bitterly as he glared in Dee's direction bitterly. While his father should have been interrogating Dee on the incident involving Kara the Admiral was instead humiliating him which didn't really sit too well with Lee. It wasn't bad enough that he was losing his wife, but losing his father's confidence and respect pushed Lee over the edge. Feeling consumed with rage, he turned towards his father with a look of resentment and fury raging in his eyes.

"You think that you know Dualla, but you really don't,' Lee said scathingly.

Admmiral glared at him impatiently.

"What are you talking about?" he demanded.

Dee could tell that Lee was preparing to expose her dark secrets and she felt her heart skip a beat. She knew that if the Admiral heard from his son what Dee had done, there would not be any way for her to repair her reputation.

"Dee isn't a soldier, and she isn't a wife. She is nothing more than a cheating whore," he growled emotionally.

His words hit Dee like slap to the face. The disdain she heard dripping off his words made her cringed inwardly.

She knew that her affair with Agathon had been distasteful and highly inappropriate, but that didn't give him a right to insult her by calling her a whore. She knew that he had every right to be mad at her, but he was taking things a little too far, and she wasn't about to let him get away with it.

"You really need to take a deep breath, and think about what you are saying," she said quietly, "You are out of line."

He laughed bitterly.

"I'm out of line?" he exclaimed incredulously, "How do you even have the nerve to say that when you were the one that frakked another man and got pregnant?"

His admission caused the Admiral's eyes to widen as he stared at his daughter in law in sheer disbelief. Dee felt her pulse quicken as she stared at her feet feeling nothing short of shame and humiliation. She knew that Lee was angry with her, but the fact that he openly blasted her indiscretions to the Admiral pissed her off.

"What I did was wrong, but you have no right to judge me you son of a bitch. If you would have had a shred of decency to not ask me to marry me when you were in love with another woman, none of this would have ever happened," she growled.

Lee laughed incredulously.

"I can't believe you! You actually have the nerve to blame me for you whoring around," he said in disbelief.

Furious, Dee lifted her hand and slapped him hard across the face leaving a red stinging mark on his pale cheek.

"I may be a lot of things, but a whore is not one of them," she hissed angrilly.

The tension in the room suddenly became filled with hostility and tension and deciding that he had enough of his son's verbal abuse towards Dualla, the Admiral decided to put an end to the violent confrontation between his son and his daughter in law.

"That's enough, Lee, " the Admiral growled softly, "You need to leave. Now!"

"But...," Lee started.

The Admiral took off his glasses and glared at his son seriously.

"That wasn't a suggestion," he said quietly, "Don't make me tell you again."

Lee glared coldly at his father before reluctantly storming out of the cell. As he retreated Dee felt the hot tears that she had been struggling to hold back cascade down her cheeks. She was surprised when the Admiral put his arms around her and held her comfortably. While she knew that he was angry at her for what she had done, she was relieved to know that unlike his son, he didn't completely hate her guts. Moments later, he pulled away from her and stared down at her with a unreadble expression on his face.

"From what I have just witness, I take it that Lee isn't handling the news of the divorce very well," he noted somberly.

Dee smiled bitterly and shook her head.

"Actually, I haven't gotten around to telling him. He's angry about certain indiscretions that I have had, and to be honest, a small part of me can't blame him," she said softly.

The Admiral sighed heavily as he slowly lowered himself into a steel chair across the room.

"When you say indiscretions, are you speaking of the affair that Lee accused you of having or your pregnancy?" he asked bluntly.

William Adema's words caused Dee to shift her weight from one foot to the other uncomfortably. The Admiral noticed and stared at her sympathetically.

"I know that this conversation may be uncomfortable for you, but as your Commander and as someone who cares a great deal for you, I need to know what is going on," he said gently. Dee inhaled sharply knowing that the conversation that she was about to have with her father in law and Commander was going to be anything but pleasant. Closing her eyes, she blinked back tears that was threatening to cascade down her face. Not only was she physically exhausted, but she was emotionally drained. Feeling numb, she stared at the man in front of her knowing that once she confessed the truth, she would lose every ounce of respect that he ever had for her. The things that she was about to reveal to her superior would be hard for him to hear, but she knew that it would be difficult for him to process. While a small part of her felt shame for what she had done, she refused to apologized to her husband or the Admiral for any of it. Biting her bottom lip, she struggled to figure out how she would come clean with her indiscretions without causing another confrontation that she had absolutely no energy to engage in.

Sensing her hesitation, William Adema knew that it would take a little more prodding to get her to open decided to push her a little harder.

"I know that you are going through a very rough time now, but I want you to know that you can be honest with me. I will be wiling to help you in any and every way that I can, but that is only if you are honest with me," he said gently.

The look in his eyes showed her that he was being very sincere, so she reluctantly decided to come clean. Exhaling deeply, Dee quietly began to fill him in on everything that had happened since the moment she had left Cloud Nine. With a heavy heart she vaguely revealed the true nature of her relationship with Karl along with the pregnancy that resulted from her affair. After she had finished she lowered her gaze to the floor unable to look her superior in the eye. She could feel the weight of his glare and she swallowed deeply, praying to the gods that he wouldn't attack her in the same fashion that his son had done moments earlier.

"I don't understand,?" the Admiral started confused, "Why didn't you just give Lee a divorce? Why did you have to break his heart by having an affair and a child with another man?"

Dee stared at her soon to be ex father in law feeling slightly agitated and hurt.

"You have to believe me when I say that cheating on your son wasn't something that I planned. I tried to make our marriage work, but when it was obvious that he cared more about Starbucks then he did about me, I was angry and hurt. Yes, I could have handled it differently and I'm not making any excuse for my actions. I am just saying that Lee isn't exactly blameless in everything that has happened," she said curtly.

The elderly man shook his head.

"I don't put all of the blame on you, Dee. To be honest, I knew that you have been unhappy for a very long time, but I didn't feel as if I was in any position to do anything about it," he said, his voice quiet and remorseful, "I know that what you did is completely out of character and while I am very disappointed by several choices that you have made, I will not judge you for them."

Dee felt tears sting the corners of her eyes at the disapproval she heard in his voice.

"I know that this might not mean anything to you sir, but I truly am sorry for any dishonor that I may have bought on your name," she whispered thickly.

The Admiral rose from the cot and shook his head slowly. He was drained from the events that had taken place over the past twenty four hours. Not only was he dealing with the critical condition of one of his best Vipor pilot's, but now he was concerned with the failing of his son's marriage, and the emotional stability of his soon to be ex daughter in law. Exhaling deeply, he rubbed his eyes feeling completely exhausted. He had thought that finding Earth would be the most defining and happiest moment of his career, but with everything going on he knew that he wouldn't be celebrating that particular victory any time soon. Not untill everything in his professional and personal life was resolved.

He was jolted from his thoughts by the sound of Dee groaning softly. Glancing at his daughter in law, he frowned when he noticed a pained expression flash across her face and he instantly grew he could make an inquiry about her well being, she leaned forward and cried out quietly.

Immediatly the Admiral rose to his feet and rushed to her side.

"Are you alright?" he asked worried.

Dee forced a smile. Even though she was in a considerable amount of pain, she refused to let him worry over her. After everything that has happened, deep down she felt that she didn't deserve any sympathy from anyone, least of all the Admiral.

"I'm fine, sir," she said weakly, "It's just been a very long and exhausting day."

He knew that she wasn't being honest with him which made his concern for her deepen. He knew that in her delicate condition that any extreme stress on her body would put her baby at high risk. Despite the fact that his daughter in law was pregnant by another man, it didn't make him care any less about her well being. Sighing heavily, he decided to take a more gentle and compassionate approach.

"Dee, the main reason that I came to see you was to apologize for having you incarcerated. I was just following protocol. I couldn't make an exception for you just because you are my daughter in law," he said apologetically.

Dualla stared up at him with a mixture emotions flashing across her face as she smiled at him tenderly.

"No apology is necessary, sir. I completly understand that you did what you had to do, but I want you to know that what happened with Kara was an accident. I never meant to cause her any harm," she said desperately, "You have to believe me."

Admiral stared at her hard for a long moment. Usually her appearance was kept neat and tidy, but at the moment several black strands of hair fell around her face like a curtain. Her dark skin was flushed and her eyes reflected pain and exhaustion.

"I believe you. I read your statement along with Karl's. It was a unfortuante accident," he said softly, "I want you to see Dr. Cottle immediately after you are released."

"Released?" she stammered surprised, "Does that mean that I'm not going to be bought up on charges?"

The Admiral nodded in confirmation.

"There won't be any charges filed against you for the incident involving Starbucks. I think that you already been through enough. From the evidence that the investigators collected, I see no reason to hold you here any longer. As far as your extramarital affair with Agathon goes, that will be dealt with at a later," he murmured before heading towards the exit of the cell.

"So what happens now?" she asked quietly.

The Admiral nodded towards the door.

"You are free to go."


	16. Chapter 16

**An: Only two chapters left! I promise. Special shout out to MeridianDreams...**

Felix had just finished dining in the chow hall and was heading into the CIC to finish his shift when he walked through the doors and spotted something that caused him to stop abruptly in his tracks. Anastasia Adema was standing behind at the command post behind the communications control filling out some paper work. As he walked over to his post, he opened his mouth to greet her when the expression on her face made the words die on his lips. She literally looked like she had just been through hell and back. Her eyes were red and swollen and her hair was messy and unkempt. It looked as if she had been crying and he couldn't blame her if she had been. Skuttlebutt aboard the ship had been running wild ever since word about Kara and Dee's confrontation had gotten out. He had accidentally overheard Kally and her fellow mechanics talking and from their conversation he felt that most of them were sympathetic of Dee's plight and felt that what had occurred had truly been an unfortunate accident. Inside the CIC, however, was a different story. Alot of the officers were quietly speculating about how bad the Adema's marriage had gotten over the past few weeks and how Dee's jealousy of Kara and Lee's friendship may had something to do with the accident.

"Hey, Dee. I didn't expect to see you out of the brig so soon," he stammered instantly feeling foolish after the words had escaped his lips.

Dualla smirked and stared at him amused.

"Relax, Felix. I didn't escape. The Adimral cut me loose," she reassured with a soft chuckle.

Felix flashed a brief smile sheepishly before becoming somber once more.

"I heard what happened," he stated quietly, "I know that you have probably been asked this a thousand times, but are you okay?"

She forced as smile and nodded.

"I'm fine. It's jut been a very long day," she sighed exhausted.

He nodded sympathetically.

"I heard about what happened with you and Kara Thrace. I'm so sorry you had to go through such a horrific ordeal," he said gently, "If there is anything I can do for you, just name it."

Dee smiled warmly.

"Thanks, Felix. I really appreciate that," she murmured gratefully.

As Felix walked away, Dee looked around and the CIC and felt her heart race as she spotted Agathon on the other side of the room. Her heart skipped a beat as she realized that he was staring directly at her. Despite the fact that they were a good distance away from each other, she could see the relief that was on his handsome face. Even though she knew that it wasn't a good idea for either of them to be spotted together, she couldn't bring herself to stay away. Dee felt that any moment she would collapse emotionally and the only thing that could bring her comfort was Karl. Almost as if he had been reading her mind, he turned and walked towards the opposite end of the CIC where it was less populated and she followed cautiously glancing around making sure she wasn't being watched.

Rounding a corner, they quickly walked into a dark empty room where the back up recordings for the communications transmissions were stored and closed the door. Once the door was secure behind them, Dee flung herself into his arms and Karl began to shower her faces with tender kisses. Tears slowly began to pour from Dee's face. She was mentally and physically exhausted and all she wanted to do was sleep untill she woke up from this nightmare, but being in Karl's arms made her momentarily forget how tired she was. As he wrapped his arms tightly around her, Karl captured her mouth with his and gave her slow and an affectionate kiss. As his tongue tangled with hers, she couldn't fight back a soft moan pleasure.

Pulling back, he stared down at her with regret reflecting in his blue eyes.

"I hated the fact that I had to leave you back there in that cage," Karl whispered against her mouth in anguish.

Dee felt a smile stretch across her lips as she clung to him as if her very life depended on holding on to him.

"As much as I love being with you, we really shouldn't being do this here," she sighed quietly as she reluctantly pulled away from him and put space between them.

Karl knew she was right but he didn't care.

"Dee, there is a lot that I am uncertain of, but my feelings for you isn't one of those things. I love you and I want to be with you. That fact is never going to change," he said firmly, "I really don't care who finds out about us."

She smiled feeling her heart swell in her chest as she stared up at him, her eyes reflecting the deep affection that she had for him..

"I love you too, Karl. There is something that I need to tell you," she said softly.

Karl could tell from her expression that something was weighing heavily on her mind, and he immediately became concerned.

"What is it, Dee?" he asked worried, "What's bothering you?"

"The Admiral knows about us. It was only a matter of time before he found out about the affair and I thought he deserved to hear the truth about it from me," she said quietly.

To her utter and complete surprise, Karl cupped her face in his hands and kissed her forehead before smiling down at her with reassurance on the surface of his beautiful blue eyes

"You did the right thing, Dee. We can worry about the consequences later. Right now, I just want to make sure that you are okay," he said huskily as he tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear.

Helo smile quickly faced when he noticed something on Dee's body that troubled him.

"What happened to your neck?" he asked dismayed.

Dee swallowed nervously.

"I must have injured it during the incident," she lied quickly.

Karl stared at her startled.

"That's impossible," he said confused, "I was just with you less than a two hours ago and those bruises weren't on you."

"Karl, it's not important," she tried.

The way she was evading his question made him deeply suspicious. It was almost as if she was intentionally lying to him in order to avoid explain how the marks had gotten on her skin. He could tell by the darkened expression on her face that she was hiding something, and he was determined to get to the bottom of it.

"Someone came to see you after I did, didn't they?" he asked stiffly.

When Dee didn't respond he knew that he was on the right track. He watched as her bottom lip trembled and he could see that whatever had happened, she was still clearly very upset over it. While he didn't want to upset her any further, he needed to know who had put their hands on her so that he could return the favor to that person. He opened his mouth to ask her what happened once again, when something suddenly struck him.

"Lee found out about the affair? he asked hoarsely,"He did that to you, didn't he?"

Dee fought back tears as she stared up at him desperately. There was a reason that she didn't tell Karl the truth and it was because she didn't want things between her lover and her husband to get any worse than they already were. However, Dee felt her blood run cold when she noticed the furious look on Karl's face.

"That...frakkin...bastard. When I get my hands on him," he hissed angrily.

Dee grabbed his hand as she stared up at him pleadingly.

"You will do nothing. Things are bad enough," she said softly, "Just let this go."

"He can't get away with hurting you, Dee," he protested infuriated.

Dee tilted her head back and a look of desperation on her pretty dark face.

"What Lee did to me is not important. You are the only person that means anything to me. I love you,"she said breathlessly as she swallowed back tears.

As much as Karl wanted to find Lee and beat the frak out of him, he knew that it was more important to respect Dee's wishes.

"I love you too and once we are on Earth, we will finally be together, and there won't come a day where we will ever be apart. I promise," he vowed sincerely.

Before their conversation could continue, they were abruptly interrupted.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything between you two," a cold voice said sharply causing Agathon and Dualla to jump apart abruptly.

They had been so deeply involved with each other that they had failed to hear the door open. Dee felt her mouth go dry and her palms grow sweaty as she came face to face with Sharon. The raven haired beauty walked into the room and slammed the door behind her violently. Dee could tell that she was livid, and she braced herself for the confrontation that she knew was about to happen. While the two women stared each other down steadily, Karl felt all the blood drained from his face as he stared at his wife speechless. He didn't take a rocket scientist to see that Sharon was fully aware of his affair with Dualla. Watching the pain and anger flooded across Sharon's pretty face, the Captain felt a wave of guilt wash over him. He had wanted to sit down and tell her personally, but apparently, it was a little too late for that.

As she closed the space between them, he noticed that there was a very familiar demented look in his wife that made him very uneasy. While he knew that she had every right in the universe to be angry with them, he knew that he had to keep control of the situation before anything got too far out of hand.

"Sharon," he started.

She glared at him coldly causing him the words to die on his lips.

The tension in the room was so thick that Dee felt that at any moment she would suffocate from it. She had thought Kara's accident would be the worst part of her day, but she had been wrong. Dead wrong. Not only did she have a physical altercation with her husband, but she had also suffered through disappointing her father in law by telling him the truth about her infidelity. Now to make matters even worse, she was being forced to come clean to Sharon about being the other woman, and Dee was quickly beginning to feel overwhelmed.

"I think that maybe you two need a chance to talk in private," Dee mumbled before turning to head towards the door.

Sharon reached out and grabbed the communications officer by the fore arm preventing her from moving any further.

"You aren't going anywhere," she hissed angrily,"Considering how you slept with my husband, I really think that you should stick around for this conversation."

Dee snatched her arm away and glared at the other woman defiantly.

"Don't you ever put your frakkin' hands on me again," she warned with a dangerous edge in her voice.

Karl could tell by the mounting tension on Dee's face that she was on the verge of losing it and he couldn't blame her. She had been through hell and this was the last thing she needed to deal with. With each moment that passed, he could sense that the situation was quickly growing unstable and had the potential of spinning completely out of control. He knew that if he didn't intervene soon, things could very well turn physical between the two women, so he decided to take action. Grabbing Dee's hand gently, he guided her behind his body protectively as he stared at his wife helplessly.

"Sharon, I understand that you are angry, but you need to calm down," he pleaded quietly, "This is not the time or place to do this."

His wife glared at him with nothing short of contempt flashing across her dark eyes.

"Given the fact that you were willing to walk away from your family rather than be honest with me, I don't see how you think it's your right to make the choice of saying when or where we can talk about your infidelity," she snapped angrily.

Karl swallowed nervously.

"Sharon, I wasn't walking out on our family. I would never abandon Hera," he tried.

She laughed bitterly.

"You would just abandon your child's mother so you can have your brains frakked out by this pathetic Saggitarn bitch," she spat disgusted, "She couldn't even keep her own husband satisfied. What makes you think she can please you?"

"Sharon," Karl warned with a dangerous edge in his voice.

Dee turned towards him with a sweet smile on her lips.

"It's okay. It is probably best if you just left us alone to sort this out," she murmured.

Karl didn't think that was a good idea and was about to protest when Dee interrupted him gently.

"Trust me, Agathon. I'll be fine," she promised forcing a smile.

Seeing how he didn't seem to have any choice but to retreat, the Captain nodded reluctantly. He wanted to give Dee a kiss before he walked away, but he knew that would be cruel and very hurtful towards his wife, so he resisted the urge. After casting one last glance at Dualla, he turned and silently left the room.

A long tense silence passed between them, before either women spoke.

"So between trying to save your marriage, you somehow found time to frak my husband," Sharon said evenly, "You have obviously been a very busy woman."

Dee exhaled sharply.

"It doesn't matter what I say to you Sharon. I could apologize to you for what I did, but I doubt you would believe me. I don't know what you expect me to say," Dee said honestly.

Sharon glared at her with fury flashing in her dark slanted eyes.

"It expect you to actually be somewhat remorseful that you laid on your back for my husband," she snarled angrily.

The communication's officer swallowed deeply.

"Sleeping with Karl was wrong on so many levels. I will be the first to admit that. I know that you are hurt by what we have done, and as much as I would like to, I can't take it back. The only thing is left to be done is to figure out how Karl plans to move forward, and go from there," she said softly.

Sharon smirked as she moved closer to the communications officer. Dee stood her ground stubbornly refusing to back down from the other woman. Sharon was slightly intimidating, but Dee had been fighting all day. She had fought to come to terms with her unexpected pregnancy, she had fought to keep Kara from ruining her life, she have fought Lee over the mistakes they both had made through out the course of their dysfunctional marriage. While Dee had once been the type of woman to shy away from confrontations, she now welcomed it. She was no longer weak and timid. She was no longer a victim of her circumstances. She was a fighter and for the first time, Dualla realized she was a lot stronger than she had ever given herself credit for. If Sharon thought that Dee was going to back down, the angry cylon was sadly mistaken.

"You really think he is going to leave his family to be with you? Are you really that desperate to have a man in your life that you would try to tear him from the arms of his wife and daughter?" she asked disgusted.

Dee narrowed her eyes at the other woman angrily.

"Before you start making any assumptions, I never made any demands of Karl to leave you or Hera. He loves you both very much, but any decision he has made including sleeping with me has been his own. I never forced him into my bed, and I will not force him to leave his family," she said stiffly.

"How long have you been frakking my husband?" she bluntly.

"It only happened once," Dee answered truthfully.

"You are in love with him, aren't you?" Sharon asked quietly.

Dee bowed her head and blinked back tears.

"More than I care to say, and more than you care to hear," she whispered thickly.

Sharon felt a twinge of sympathy for the pain she saw in the other woman's eyes, but almost instantly that sympathy was replaced with rage. Dee didn't have any right be upset. Sharon understood that the Adema's marriage was falling apart, but that didn't give the other woman the right to ruin hers. Seconds later, her rage faded and was replaced with sadness. Sharon remembered the time when both she and Karl had been so happy together. Against all odds, they have found love in a very dark and hopeless place, and when she had their daughter, she felt like things were perfect. She felt a pang in her chest as she realize that all had change when Karl had defied her and went to aid Dee who had been treated by the murderer Dr. Roberts a few months back. She hadn't realized it then, but she and Karl had slowly drifted apart. Somewhere down the line, Karl had fallen out of love with her and head over heels with Dualla.

Despite her prior plans to walk out on Karl once they had landed on Earth, Sharon realize that she couldn't give up on her marriage without a fight. She was still deeply in love with her husband and she wasn't going to let him throw away the future they had promised one another.

"I'm sorry that you fell in love with my husband," Sharon said hotly, "But I'm not giving him up. Not without a fight."

Dee sighed heavily. She was exhausted. She had spent months fighting another woman over Lee. She wasn't sure if she had the energy to fight Sharon for Helo, and a part of her didn't feel as if she had any right to. Karl was married to Sharon and maybe the right thing to do was to walk away and let them have a chance at rebuilding their marriage. However Dee knew that her and Sharon couldn't decide Karl's fate alone. It wasn't fair. He deserved to have a say so in who he wanted to be with. He was ultimately the one who had to choose.

"I am willing to walk away if it meant that it would make Karl happy, but that doesn't mean that he will walk away from me. He loves me just as much as I love him...maybe more. Why would you want to be with a man who is happy in the arms of another woman?" she asked softly, her voice trembling with emotion.

Sharon stared at her with a hard look in her dark eyes

"I can ask you the same question, Dee."

Sharon's retort felt like a slap to the face.

"I filed for divorce. I accepted the fact that my husband would never truly be devoted to me completely, so I let him go. I deserve much more than what he was giving me. I may have realized that fact a little late, but I refuse to settle any longer," she said stiffly.

"You may have given up on your husband, but I won't give up on mine. I won't let Karl just walk away from his obligations to me and his daughter," Sharon said

Dee narrowed her eyes, hiding the pain and the hurt that Sharon's words were causing.

"I never wanted any of this to happen. If I could take it back I would but I can't. I know you could give a flying frak about my apology, but I don't know what you are expecting from me," Dee cried tearfully.

Starring at Dee's distraught face, Sharon could see that the woman was somewhat repentant about what she had done, and was somewhat ashamed, but that wasn't good enough for Sharon. The only way the cylon could make her marriage work with the Captain was if Dee was nowhere around to distract him. While Sharon was deeply hurt over her husband's betrayal, she wasn't about to let his mistake deprive Hera of a family unit. She loved him and she was willing to forgive him and move past this. The only way any of that would be possible if Dee disappeared...permenantly.

"I think we both know the answer to that question. I'm expecting for you to have a shred of decency and do the right thing by not destroying my family any more than you already have. Karl will do the right thing and stay with his family if his mistake wasn't around to stare him in the face. The best thing that you can do is walk away," she said straight forward, "You have to leave my husband and this fleet. Leave and never come back."

Dee felt as if all the air had escaped from her lungs. She knew what Sharon was suggesting was crazy and while her first instinct was to tell the cylon woman to go frak herself, there was a look on Sharon's face that made Dee hesitate. Sharon was afraid and desperate. She was afraid that she was about to lose the man she loved and she was desperate to keep that from happening. Deep down, Dee could very much relate to the emotions that the other woman was feeling. Dee had tried everything in her power to stand by Lee, but every day she felt she was losing a little more of him to Kara, and despite her best efforts, she hadn't been able to her marriage. Blinking back tears she realize she had the chance to do what Kara never did for her. She could take herself out of the equation and leave Karl and Sharon to put back the pieces of their broken marriage.

The next words that came out of Dee's mouth shocked both women.

"Okay. I will do what you want, Sharon," the dark skinned woman said barely above a whisper, "I will leave."

Sharon exhaled sharply and felt a wave of relief wash over her.

"You are a smart woman, Dee. Karl and I have a child together. We are forever going to have a bond that you will never have with him," she informed softly,"Trust me when I say that this is for the best. You really don't want to put yourself through another heartbreak."

Before either woman could say another word, the door opened interrupting them.

"I hate to interrupt but Tyrol is looking for you on the bridge, Athena," Felix informed Sharon softly.

Sharon gave one last glance in Dee's direction before following Felix to the bridge leaving Dee alone and in tears in the dark corner. Sharon cryptic suggestion of what she should do concerning her relationship with Karl left her shaking. While she knew that what she was about to do was in the best interest of everyone involved, she couldn't help but feel completely devastated. Not only was she losing her husband, but she was losing the only man who had ever made her feel like she wasn't second best. As she slowly made her way out of the room and headed towards the exit of the CIC, she glanced around sadly knowing that this would be the last time she would ever see her coworkers and work place ever again.

She had walked out of the CIC and was heading to the other side of the ship when she heard an all too familiar voice call out her name. Reluctantly she stopped walking and came face to face with the last person she wanted to see at that moment.

"Hey, are you okay? What happened back there between you and Sharon?" Karl asked concerned.

"Nothing happened, and I'm fine, Karl. I think I am going to go lay down. So much has happened in the past few hours,and I just need some time to process it all," she explained quietly as she turned to walk away.

Karl nodded. He understood that Dee had damn near been through hell the past few hours and she was physically and mentally exhausting.

"Is there any chance that I can see you later?" he asked hopefully.

Dee knew that she should tell him the truth about her plans to end their relationship, but something made her hesitate. Deep down she knew that if she try to sever ties between them, Karl would somehow convince her that they belonged together. The feelings that she had for him was something that she had never felt before. Leaning against the nearest wall, she tried to keep from collapsing beneath the weight of her sorrow and pain. Starring at Karl sadly, she opened her mouth to answer his question when a strangled sob escaped her lips. She never felt her heart break quite this way and while she knew the pain she was feeling was emotional, she felt that it was killing her slowly. Karl must have sensed something was wrong and he stepped forward and gently guided her into his arms.

"Dee, are you okay?" he asked his voice soft and deep with concern.

She nodded numbly.

"I am fine. I'm just tired and need to get some rest."

"Maybe you should go see the doctor," he tried.

"It's not the baby, Karl," she tried weakly.

"Then what is it, Anastasia?" he pressed staring at her intensely.

When she didn't answer, he stared at her patiently waiting for an explanation.

As she stared at him, she realized that this was probably going to be the last time that she would ever see him again. The thought of never being able to get lost in his beautiful kind blue eyes or feeling his tender kiss made her want to break down and sob, but she knew that she couldn't afford the luxary to grieve. She felt numb as she realized that she was letting go of a man who never loved her and was walking away from the one man who wanted to be her everyting. She felt as if her world was falling apart and there wasn't anything she or anyone else could do to ever piece it back together again. The choice that laid ahead of her was damn near impossible, but deep down she knew it was the only way to atone for her sins.

She knew that Karl wasn't going to let her go easily, so she knew that she had to be cruel to be kind. Swallowing deeply, Dee narrowed her eyes before glaring evenly at the Captain.

"I just need to time to myself," she said coldly, "What part of that can't you comprehend?"

Her harsh words caused him to flinch visibly, and there was a hurt and confusion to flash across his handsome face. He didn't understand why she was suddenly being so cold and distance. He didn't have any idea of what happened between her Dualla and his wife, but he was determined to find out one way or another.

"Don't do this, Dee," he whispered sadly, "Don't push me away."

She stared at him trying not to collapse beneath the weight of her heavy emotions. The last thing she ever wanted to do was push him away, but she wasn't left with any other choice. Even though she loved him with all of her heart, she knew that this was the end for both them. Closing her eyes, she felt a wave of sorrow wash over her. If she would have known that this would be the end result of thier relationship, she would have never gotten involved with him. Mentally she kicked herself for being so naive and gulliable. How could she have possibly thought that it would end any other way then Karl ending up back with his wife while she ended up alone?

Dee knew that the longer she stood there wallowing in self pity and her pain, the more difficult it would be for her to walk away. Gathering the last bit of courage that she had, she stared at him sadly before slowly backing away from him.

"I have to go," she said quietly,"Goodbye, Agathon."

He called after her begging her not to walk away but she forced herself to shut out his voice as she quickly disappeared around the corner. Once she was out of his line of vision, Dee felt the flood gates open and tears began to fall down her face uncontrollably. Despite how badly she wanted to be with him, Sharon words ranged loudly in her ears. Dee knew that it was selfish and unreasonable of her to expect to be happy after she had nearly destroyed the Agathon's marriage. Sharon deserved to have her husband and Hera deserved to have her father and Dee was prepared to stand aside in order to let that happen. As she placed the palm of her hand on her stomach, she inhaled sharply. While she knew that her decision would deprive her own child of a father, Dee knew that she was strong enough to raise and take care of her baby on her own. This was the unfortunate price she had to paiy for indiscretion.

As she grew closer to the Airlock, Dee brushed away her tears and forced herself to hold her head high. This was the start of a new life and there was no turning back.


End file.
